Jericho
by maggiemae815
Summary: "And the walls came tumbling down..." AU from "The Rhodes Not Traveled" on. Finn may be a bit slow on the uptake, but life moves at the speed of light. Now Rated M.
1. Your Own Disaster

_Author's Note: AU from "The Rhodes Not Taken" and a bunch of spoilers from there. This is one of quite a few Glee fic WIPs I have, but I can't really take writing about them with the current plotlines. So I picked this back up, which I began right after the break up occured and I immediately went to my happy place, haha. This is sort of me mashing together different storylines to make myself feel better._

Finn couldn't understand what was happening. He knew he wasn't the smartest person in the world, but he thought he knew certain unchangable facts; the sky was blue, Mr. Shue would try every few weeks to get them to perform an old, outdated song, and Rachel Berry was totally into him.

He figured that her feelings for him were as permanent as the sun rising in the east (see, he paid attention in some classes) no matter how crappy he acted towards her, because it was just the way things were supposed to be. He'd began to count on it, and before he even knew it he'd started looking forward to, even craving, those adoring looks and bright smiles she sent his way. Even after the slap, even after he knew he'd been a downright douchebag in using her feelings, she'd agreed to come back to glee. He thought that that meant things would go back to the way they were. The way they were SUPPOSED to be.

But the first day of her return she avoided him like the plague. She avoided looking at him, she sat as far away from him as possible, and then she did something he'd never expected her to do.

"Alright guys, I have a new number that can have four different duets. The first duet will be Quinn and Artie, the second will be Brittany and Puck, the third, Kurt and Mercedes, and then we'll end the number with Rachel and Finn."

Finn smiled brightly at Rachel, because singing with her may or may not have been the main reason behind him wanting her to return to the club. Hey, he was human. A TEENAGE human, at that. He never claimed to be selfless! There was just something about singing with her... But Rachel was staring resolutely towards Mr. Shue, her lips pursed into a thin line.

"Mr. Shuester, I believe this type of the song calls for a certain blending of styles, and for that I think we should avoid pairing me with... Finn." She seemed to have trouble saying his name, and by the time she was done speaking Finn's smile was replaced by his signature beffudled expression, clearly not comprehending that RACHEL was TURNING DOWN a DUET with HIM.

"Um, alright Rachel. Then it'll be you and Artie, and Finn can sing with Quinn," Mr. Shue capitulated, clearly not wanting to ask why or argue the point.

"But," Finn began, only to be cut off by Rachel.

"Thank you, Mr. Shue," she spoke quickly and in a clipped tone, heading towards Artie while the other assigned pairs shuffled towards each other. Quinn smiled at Finn, linking their arms. But he felt deflated and heavy, giving her no reaction.

"Alright, everyone should practice together today and tomorrow, and by Wednesday we'll blend the parts together."

As Mr. Shuester went on to explain the reason for this selection, and the importance of putting passion behind it because their biggest assests were their souls, Finn stared at Rachel. She had a slight frown on her face while listening intently to Mr. Shue, but he had a feeling it wasn't an intense look of concentration that was marring her features. It was in the moment that he realized just how collassally he'd screwed up with her.

Sure he had a pregnant girlfriend who was Ms. Popular cheerlead slash eventual Prom Queen, and sure Rachel was one of the biggest outcasts in the school, but she was... he didn't even know if words could describe how he saw Rachel. She scared the hell out of him in more ways than one, and not just her passion and her vocabulary and her intensity. It was these weird feelings in his chest and his gut (let's not mention his groin, eh?) that he got when she was around him that made him want to run and hide, and at the same time clutch her to him like a lifeline to a drowning man. He'd hoped that she'd be by his side, strictly as a friend of course, while he figured out a way to handle this whole teen dad thing.

The thought that he'd totally ruined things between them made him feel a little nauseous. He didn't even notice that glee club had ended until Quinn pinched his arm.

"Ow, what the hell?" he almost yelled. Quinn gave him a scathing look.

She stood up and scoffed. "If you think you can stop pouting about not singing with Man Hands, I figured you could come over so we could practice our duet."

Finn wanted to respond in so many ways. He wanted to tell her to stop insulting Rachel, especially since she'd rejoined glee to help THEIR unborn child. He wanted to run after Rachel and find out why she didn't want to sing with him, even though he was pretty sure WHY she didn't want to sing with him. And he mostly wanted to tell Quinn that singing with her was too hard because it just reminded him how different he felt when he sang with Rachel. But instead he nodded dumbly and followed her out of the practice room, glancing down the halls for a glimpse of Rachel. But he didn't see her, and resigned himself to what his life was; Quinn, the baby, and doing as well as he could in glee so he could make something of his life for his daughter's sake.

For the next week and a half Rachel continued ignoring Finn, and Finn in turn felt more and more defeated. She just looked so... not like her usual shining self lately, and he couldn't have hated himself more for it. But through it all he understood what was happening and why, even if it had so affected his appetite that his mom was habitually pressing the back of her hand to his forehead and throwing him worry-filled glances.

All he could think about was the spectacular gap left by her absence. It amazed him because she'd only been a part of his life for such a short time, and at the beginning of their little tango he was kind of creeped out by her. But then everything got all warped and screwy and flip flopped and he was staring at his closed locker, thinking in circles about her. Rachel Berry.

Just as he was focusing on how much he missed her smile, especially the soft one reserved for him, she came into school her eyes sparkling and her smile beaming, practically bouncing as she walked... right past him as if he wasn't even there. He was so blown away by the ray of sunshine that seemed to have replaced the gloomy cloud she'd had hovering over her, that by the time he had the thought to turn towards her she had disappeared from the hall. He was painfully reminded of that gaping emptiness as she once again left him behind. All he could hear was her voice, filled with hurt, anger, and betrayel; "But my dreams are bigger than that- and they're bigger than you."

When she came into glee club and immediately began rambling on about song ideas she had, and how she'd already come up with part of the choreagraphy, he pushed away the reminder that she WAS going to be something bigger than he could imagine, and he grasped at the hope that there might once again be room for him to talk to her now that she seemed to be feeling better. She let out a frustrated sigh, one of her many noises that causes Finn to smirk (what? he can't help it, it's so...cute, especially when she's not making it because of him), and says she left her iPod in her locker. As she sprinted out of the choir room, Finn prepared to follow her to really apologize and solidify that she doesn't hate him. But then he heard Kurt and Mercedes talking, and caught the words, "Rachel" and "boyfriend" and "really happy" and all of a sudden he had that same rushing in his head he got when Quinn said she was pregnant. Rachel had a boyfriend? A BOYFRIEND? And she's 'really happy'? That doesn't make any sense, because she's not dating Finn, and he's supposed to be who she's totally into, and if he's the guy making her happy then who is? Was he from this school? Was he bigger than Finn? Cuter? A better singer? (Probably a better dancer, but then again who wasn't?) While all of these questions were floating around in his brain, Rachel walked, no floated, back into the choir room.

"Alright everyone, I've got the version with the lyrics, and then just the instrumental. Shall we begin?" She's all smiles and bubbling energy and for a second Finn almost smiled because THIS is the Rachel that he wanted back in glee. But then Kurt's voice cut through the spell that Rachel always managed to create around Finn.

"Spill it Berry, who has you walking around like you just scored the spring line of Marc Jacob for free?"

Rachel's smile became coy, and she said softly, "His name is Jesse." Everyone waited for her to go on, because Rachel Berry never left any detail unmentioned. But when she doesn't seem inclined to continue, a barrage of questions was hurled at her.

"Does he go here?"

"What's he look like?"

"Can he sing? Wait, stupid question. What I meant was, can he sing better than you?" Kurt's question is the only one she deemed to answer.

"Yes he can sing, and while he may have more practice than me being a senior, I wouldn't go as far as to say that he is either more or less talented than I."

Mercedes and Kurt looked even more intrigued, the damn gossip queens.

"You didn't tell us if he went here? I'm assuming he doesn't, since he isn't in glee club. PLEASE don't tell me he's from a rival school."

Finn perked up at this, because if he was from a rival school then breaking them up would become like, his JOB. In order to protect the glee club of course. But then again, he doubted that Rachel would date someone who they'd be competing against. She was like, the most competitor he'd ever encountered.

"Um," she looked uncomfortable, and that's all the confirmation the club needed.

"Look girl, it's good to see you so happy, and I never thought I'd say this but I kind of missed all your long winded contributions to the discussions. But if there's any chance this could be some funny business," Mercedes began. Rachel quickly cut her off, looking kind of scary.

"We met at a music store. He didn't know who I was, I didn't know who he was. He heard me practicing a harmony, we started talking, and he ended up asking me on a date. It wasn't until we were on said date that we even began speaking of our glee clubs. So while I appreciate the 'concern' which I'm sure is just thinly vieled disbelief that any male would be interested in me with an agenda," at that she shot Finn a look that made him even more worried and anxious, " But I can handle it on my own. And if any loyalties come into question, I am more than a little insulted that you would think that I would ever put ANYTHING above this club. This club is all I have, even if it is filled with people who would sooner have me legally banned from doing anything besides SING." She stopped talking, and everyone assumed she was done, though no one made a move to respond. But then this overwhelmingly sad look crossed her face, which made Finn kind of feel like he'd eaten one too many school tacos, and she spoke softly but clearly. "Thank you for once again proving that I really have no one who cares about me."

And then she was walking out of glee club, and everyone was still stuck on mute.


	2. A Decade Under The Influence

_Author's Note: Hi! I'm excited to see some people are setting alerts for this! I've written in other fandoms, but I always get nervous when I'm writing in a new fandom. To know that people are interested makes me so happy :D! Also, sorry for being so wordy and without so much dialogue, but this is just kind of a filler. Hopefully the next chapter will be done soon, as it's more a continuation of this one than a new chapter. Enjoy :)!_

After speed-racer-walking to the auditorium, Rachel went backstage and sat herself down. She needed to do some thinking, and some calming down.

She wasn't going to lie, neither to her teammates nor to herself, and so her little tirade was full of honest fact and true emotion. But she hadn't realized when she began speaking what sort of conclusion her explanation would lead her to.

Finn's manipulation had been the hardest thing she'd ever had to stomach, and working through it had taken a lot out of her. After rejoining glee club she'd been in a bit of a funk, and so hadn't participated as much. She'd sung her heart out and done her runs, but she didn't contribute any personal opinions or feelings. She'd felt so raw and exposed and didn't need the vultures to start picking. They all noticed the difference in her, but no one was going to complain if she only seemed to open her mouth to sing. She didn't even make a peep if a solo was given to someone else, which made Mr. Shue kind of nervous, she could tell. He had been eyeing her warily for a couple of days, but when she had the same non-reaction to recieving a solo, his nervousness seemed to switch to concern. Yet he hadn't approached her to see what, if anything, may be wrong. Story of her life. People cared about her, just not enough. She was still singing, so who cared if she was just less 'annoying' and 'bossy'?

During this time she'd tried distracting herself with the things that used to help, like going to the music library. She hadn't planned on meeting someone, although she had managed to go almost four hours the day before without thinking of Finn. And then Jesse stepped into her world and suddenly she was planning a date with him and steadily ignoring the voice in her head viciously whispering _'Finn who?'_ because she wasn't doing this to be vindictive. Jesse seemed like a nice guy, someone she shared interests with and whom would understand her extreme passion. The biggest plus, of course, was that he was in no way connected to William McKinley High School.

Their first date had been three days ago, but this morning she'd stepped out of her front door to find him leaning against his car, a pink rose in his hand.

"Pink seems to be your favorite color. I considered yellow to match your room, but yellow signifies friendship, so while I'm sure anyone would be lucky to consider you their friend, I'd much prefer to call you my girlfriend."

Rachel had been so utterly gobsmacked by not only the request, but the romantic gesture and seeming sincerity. She'd daintily taken the rose from his hand, smelling it with a smile on her face, and nodded twice.

"Well then, it's a good thing you go to school so early. I can bring you in and still make it to Carmel on time. So, darling, I hope you don't mind your dashing boyfriend escorting you to school on the daily."

She giggled, his charming smile causing a slight flutter in her stomach. They got into his car, and when it turned on and the music began Rachel let out a full laugh.

"Going full force, huh?" she got out as the Rent soundtrack blasted from his sound system. They'd had a date, or romantic rendevous, every day since their first date. The second night he'd come over to his house while her father's were out and they watched Rent. They'd stopped up in her room to get the movie, which is how he knew the color of her bedroom walls.

Their third date had been mini golf, which Rachel usually did with her father's and was a fool proof thing to lift her spirits. They'd gone right after school, since neither of them had any extracirriculars on Mondays. That was when they'd spoken of family, and Jesse had explained that his parents were usually going on trips, and just left him lots of money and a house where the bills were always paid. Rachel told him about her desire for her mother, something she'd never shared with anyone but her diary and myspace account (by songs in where the only way anyone would know it was about her mother is if they knew her, because she doesn't say a single word to explain what the song is about). It was also the date where they'd first kissed. Rachel had hated that when their lips had parted that voice hissed _'Finn who?'_ again. But Rachel had smiled at Jesse before pulling him quickly to the next hole.

Getting dropped off at school by her handsome boyfriend had left Rachel feeling elated. So elated that she'd walked straight to the auditorium on autopilot and couldn't even remember how she got there.

Opening her mouth, she found herself singing out, "One Song Glory" but she was sure she wasn't properly encompassing the pain behind the song because she couldn't stop smiling. And after the song ended, the smile remained but a weight she'd been carrying since Finn's betrayel seemed to have lifted.

Today was going to be a good day, she'd thought.

She realized how niave she'd been to assume that her happiness would be allowed by her peers. Since moving here a large chunk of the school population had decided to make it their mission to bring Rachel to her lowest. Two of the worst had infiltrated glee club.

The summer that Rachel was 6 years old her parents had told her they were moving, and Rachel would be starting school in a whole new place. Her dad, Hiram, had used the word 'new' a lot, and to Rachel, then, 'new' always meant something wonderful. She was always getting a 'new' book or 'new' CD or 'new' skirts and sweaters. Her daddy, Leroy, told her about how her new big-girl bedroom was on the second floor, and theirs was on the first, just to show they knew how independant and mature she was.

Then on her second day of class this blonde haired blue eyed girl who seemed to be the teacher's pet had told her to "Move it, big nose!" Her name was Quinn Fabray. Quinn's best friend Santana, though, had taken a liking to Rachel. They were the two most intelligent and precocious children in the class and were often discussing movies and books that Quinn wasn't allowed to read or see. Cue a huge blowup where Quinn told Santana that she'd never ever speak to her again if she so much as SMILED at Rachel, and Santana made her decision. They'd known each other since pre-k, so Rachel understood. Up until middle school when the writings in the bathroom stalls began. That was when that Rachel had stopped being distracted by and interested in 'new' and had started wearing herself into a smooth routine that allowed her to focus on what was important.

Now here she was a decade later and she was still that little girl who's _new_ pony toy was thrown into the mud the second she, Quinn, and Santana were on the playground for recess.

Shaking off all thoughts but getting home and into a nice warm bath and seeing by the clock on the wall that glee hadn't yet ended, she briskly walked to her locker and grabbed her things.

Continuing the hurried pace through the parking lot, she was so focused on getting out before running into any of her teammates and was standing by her usual parking spot (in the back, tucked away) and digging in her bag for her keys before she noticed her car wasn't there and almost had a full blown panic attack. Before the heavy breathing could start she remembered that Jesse had driven her to school, and it was more like a semi-panic attack. She couldn't ask him to come get her because he had glee on Tuesdays, and the reason she'd gotten a car immediately after getting her license was that her father's had never picked her up from school and **no one** deserved to ride on a public school bus if it could be avoided. Especially if that **no one** was one Rachel Berry.

Standing there, resisting the temptation to start stamping her foot, Rachel thought about asking Finn, or maybe even Kurt. Yes, she decided, Kurt would be best.

She pulled out her phone and turned it on (it was always off during school, unless her father's had to text her because they were in the middle of an important case and couldn't get home in time for dinner. Even then it was on silent and she kept it in her locker to avoid temptation and checked it between classes) only to find six new text messages.

She scrolled down to the first one, so as to read them in proper chronological order. Three were from Finn, one from her dad, and there were one each from Kurt and Tina.

The one from her dad was the first: _Tonight is vegan burrito night, so tell me now if that's not what you're in the mood for. Love you, Dad._

She sighed and rolled her eyes. He KNEW she kept her phone off, and he also KNEW that she was never 'in the mood' for vegan burritos. They were one of the few vegan foods she couldn't stand. She had to smile, though, and was glad she'd read that text first. It had lightened her and she was sure she'd need that before reading any of the following texts. She wasn't sure if she wanted them to be apologetic or rude, although she was sure the one from Tina wouldn't be rude. The ones from Finn probably wouldn't either. But with Kurt she could never know.

The next one was from Finn: _can NOT believe ur dating THE ENEMY. i never thought ne one was right when they said u were selfish... guess i was wrong._

Her mouth was gaping. How DARE he? SHE was the selfish one? She, who had focused enough after his heinous conduct to ensure that the news of Quinn's pregnany didn't spread. She, who had given up a duet with him to show she could step aside and let him be who he was meant to be and who he was meant to be with. She looked down at her phone, her hand holding it clutching it so tightly her knuckles were white, and deleted that message quickly.

Loosening her grip, she moved on to the next message which was from Tina: _rachel mr. s tried to force me to sing your solo so we could practice that lame 80s ballad but i refused. that's your song. so was Tonight. i tried to tell mr. S that but he's sort of pushy. sorry._

Rachel instantly sent a reply, her lips quirking at the corners, glad that her father's got the plan that allowed for unlimited characters in texts: _I understand Tina. I apologize for being so possessive and pushy myself, but my dad's and my talent are all I have that's real, so I kind of hold on to them with a death grip. You're a wonderful singer and you too deserve time in the spotlight, I've realized that. Thank you for saying and doing what you did, but you have nothing to apologize for. You're probably the only person in that club who has never been intentionally rude to me and it's because you are a wonderful person. So once again, thank you._

Rachel sent it before she could think about it. She got a bit nervous, actually, because she'd not only rambled but she'd let herself seem vulnerable. She wasn't even sure what had possessed her to do it, so she went directly to the next text message before she started overanalyzing her actions.

She was still so busy trying to refocus herself she didn't even see it was another from Finn: _i also can not believe that ur hangin wit some fancy new guy while im goin thru the hardest time of my life. ur supposed to b MY friend and i need you!_

Rachel was a bit taken aback by that one. Where had that even come from? They'd been friends, yes, but after what he had done... and even being able to do it at all... how could he think of her as a FRIEND and still treat her like that?

That text had left her confused, and at this point after the day she'd had she was so emotionally and mentally exhausted she wasn't sure she even wanted to read the two last texts she had. Another from Finn, and one from Kurt. When she remembered Kurt's text, she was reminded of her need for a ride home. That plus her insatiable curiousity and possible masochism ensured she'd be reading both of those texts.


	3. Head Club

_Author's Note: The continued alerts and reviews, even being favorited, have made my day! Also special thanks to **i-am-a-nerdfighter** for their wonderful review in which she told me I was doing well with my characterization. It kept the ball rolling, and I hope I continue to keep in touch with the characters. Since this is my first foray into Glee-fic any positive feedback I get about the characterizations and overall quality of this story would be greatly appreciated. I hope you all continue to enjoy! Also I feel the need to point out that I have no beta so all mistakes are mine. And I seem to have forgotten a disclaimer in all of the excitement I had to post the previous chapters!_

_Disclaimer: Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, and my heart belongs to Finchel. No copyright infringment is intended. *And the quote used belongs to Edmund Burke._

* * *

><p>Rachel took a deep, steadying breath and, deciding she just COULDN'T delete that text from Finn, (it would need some careful analyzing later, and she might even have to use it as proof if and when she spoke to him) moved on to the next text message from Kurt.<p>

_Look Ms. Berry, I can appreciate the fact that you are very talented, and not just in the it-helps-better-my-own-career (which it does, and can do reciprocally if you'd just SEE that) way. Does that mean I like the fact that you think this is Rachel Berry feat. New Directions, NO! So that's why I've got the attitude. The more talented members we have, the more attention we get, the easier our rise to success and exit from CowTown happens! On that note, I have come to care about you during brief glimpes of your real side (don't think I haven't noticed that sullen side recently), but you've never seemed interested in persuing a friendship with anyone in glee except for Finn. And we all know what THAT'S about. But anywho, if you want to dish about the dreamboat who dropped you off this morning (you're welcome, btw, for not spreading the news of THAT tasty morsel as soon as I could) or hang out and chat about things that don't involve your future as a Broadway star, I might be inclined to participate :P. ALSO, you'd better have meant it about chosing New Directions if any funny business occurs. Good day to you._

Rachel's eyes were bugging out of her head by the time she'd finished reading that... could one call a monologue a text? Well... apparently Kurt had that same unlimited-character plan. She decided she was going to send him a text taking him up on his offer of companionship. It felt weird to her, living in the moment without properly planning out her actions, but it wasn't necessarily a bad weird so she decided to go with it. Changes were needed in her life, and an actual friend wouldn't be a bad thing to experience.

_Kurt, I think it would be lovely to spend time with you. I'll work my hardest to remember that I don't have to rave about myself with you, as you've been witness time and again to my sheer brilliance ;). I was actually wondering if you'd be able to give me a ride home. Since you apparently witnessed my arrival to school you saw that I was driven in and I am without a vehicle. My father's can never pick me up due to their schedules, so unless I figure out a way to get home on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (and I am sticking to my vow to never take the bus home), my 'dreamboat' boyfriend won't be able to drive me to school in the mornings. Now I'd of course provide you with gas money, but I understand if the task is too much to undertake. Please let me know quickly so I can find myself alternative transportation. Thank you so much for the olive branch, Kurt. And I assure you that if I even sense Jesse is trying to sabotage the pursuits of New Directions I will not only end it, but I will give him quite a lashing. You have my word._

She had so much more she wanted to say to him, but she decided to leave it for when they were face to face. Just as she was steeling herself to read the last message from Finn, her phone vibrated and two new texts from Tina appeared on the screen, one after the other. And as she was going to open them, another one popped up from Kurt. She smiled slightly, not used to so much action on her phone, and hoped that they were both positive. Skipping straight over Finn's final message, she read Tina's.

1: _believe me, i can relate to holding on to something so tightly. my solitude and wallflower persona were the only things that protected me from bullying, but now_  
>2: <em>that i have glee i don't feel like i need them. i know it's different for you, but you ARE safe with (most of :) us. you just need to stop keeping us at arms length._

Fighting against tears forming, Rachel debated internally over whether or not to reply instantly. Figuring she needed a moment to get out of emotion mind before spilling her guts out to Tina, (which, she thinks, is exactly what the girl is TELLING her to do but years of conditioning are hard to move past) she went to Kurt's latest text.

_Alright Mini-Barbra, meet me at my car with your white flag held high and we shall commence into a whole new realm of united divas :). Any further discussion, whether serious or light, should take place in person methinks. This has been quite a heavy day (ps. absolutely NO singing has taken place in glee today... even when you're not here you're the center of attention) but I think it'll all work out. Also, I hope you are nice and calmed down. I'd like my first venture with you to be with Rachel Berry, fashion victim and teenage girl. Not Rachel Berry, drama queen extraordinaire in crisis mode, hehe. Be out shortly!_

She sent a quick text to Kurt telling him she'd be waiting on the bench out front, and, only giving a fleeting thought to why they hadn't sang in glee, forced herself to go to Finn's last text.

_rach, im so sorry im such an ass. dont kno y u were ever my friend. i guess i will just leave u alone. i dont deserve ur friendship ne way._

Rachel was once again flabbergasted. Finn seemed to have been having an entire one-sided conversation with her, in which he started off burning mad and ended up with his tail tucked between his legs. She wasn't sure how to respond, nor was she entirely sure where ANY of it had come from. He'd first seemed betrayed, then almost jealous of the time she'd spent with her 'new fancy guy', and now he was apologetic and ashamed.

Unsure how to handle a response to ANY of his moods, she went back to Tina's text and started a response: _You're quite right, and from this day forward I shall work on my trust issues, as well as my ego issues, if only to find someone(s) real because while I doubt I'll ever end up best friends with the likes of any of the Cheerios, I might just find kindred spirits in my other teammates. Thanks to you and Kurt, I'm seeing that. It would be nice to experience, anyway, and the only way I can do that is to be open to it. I know I've said it already but thank you Tina. Today has been quite an experience, and so I'll leave you with that and a 'See you tomorrow!' Have a wonderful evening. :)_

She walked over to the bench and pulled out a book to wait and keep her mind occupied. Was it possible to be anxious and elated all at once, she wondered? Either way she was feeling slightly overwhelmed and tried to adhere to Kurt's request to get into a calm state of mind.

It was a good thing she had no idea of all that had and was occuring in glee.

After her departure which, even though full of emotion, lacked the usual oomph of a Rachel-Berry-storm out (something the club noticed, and it seemed to affect them all differently) Mr. Shuester was the first to speak.

"Well," he began, trying to ignore his own guilt, "since I don't think Rachel will be rejoining us today, how about we work around her absence to practice our new number. Tina, why don't you take the lead?"

Tina was looking at her teacher, her eyes wide. "Um, I don't think so Mr. Shue. That's Rachel's solo."

"Tina, it's just for practice. We need to rehearse that number!"

"Well then, make Quinn sing it. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to steal something from Rachel." Tina bit her lip, not being entirely sure where that had come from. She was just... so sick of being a silent observer in Rachel Berry's mistreatment. She was reminded of the quote 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing'*, and she knew she was as much to blame for Rachel's defeatest attitude as the people who slowly and steadily pulled her down. She whipped out her cell phone and began composing a message to Rachel. She would not be that person anymore, watching quietly while someone was attacked. Tina hoped that maybe the few in glee who she knew were actually above all of that bullying crap would see the light as well. No one deserved to feel alone, especially in high school.

"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Quinn questioned sharply. "And why is this turning into The Rachel Berry show? We're here to practice, so we should practice. Mr. Shuester, I'll gladly take the solo so we can rehearse the song."

Before Mr. Shuester could respond, Tina pressed 'send' on her phone, snapped it closed, and spoke up again. "What it MEANS, Quinn, is that you and Santana and Puck and countless others are constantly degrading Rachel. I mean, geez, she gave Jew-Fro a pair of panties to stop him from spreading the news of your pregnancy! You treat her terribly and still, she put herself on the line to defend you."

"She did that because she's obsessed with MY _boyfriend_, not because she cares about me at all. She's a selfish spoiled little brat who thinks she's amazing when she's just annoying and I'm sick of it! Now she's dating a guy from our **rival** and I'M the bad guy?"

Kurt couldn't help himself, he started to laugh. Everyone looked at him oddly, but he ignored it all, still chortling, and pulled out his own cell phone to send a message. Hearing his own opinions repeated by Cheerleader Barbie had brought him to his own conclusions, and he instantly knew what he wanted to express.

No one had noticed that Finn was staring at the phone in his hand, reading and re-reading the message he'd sent. His expression seemed to be a mix between guilt and anger. He'd almost followed Rachel when she left, but was so shaken up he'd simply sat there and stewed. And it was only after he sent the text that he realized he'd lashed out, which hadn't been what he meant to do. He knew she wasn't really selfish. I mean sure, she liked to have the solos, but it was because she was amazing and knew it and was planning on building her whole life around that amazing. He got that. If he was that good at something he'd be all obsessive with it too. And he missed that about her, missed her so much that he immediately went to compose an apology. But then all he could think about was how she'd been absent from his life recently, and he felt that big empty hole inside of him, and longed for the comforting words he hadn't recieved. It was when he remembered just who had been getting that time and attention that his fingers starting moving, and before he knew it he'd written and sent another message.

Going to his sent box he opened it and reread it, feeling suddenly just in his feelings and reaction to the whole situation. He looked up from his phone, still stewing in silence, and barely noticed any of the conversation flowing around him.

"Look ya'll, I'm just as worried as you guys about her dating someone on the opposite team, but other than that I've just mostly been worried about **her**." Mercedes knew it was the guilt talking, but it was more than that. She knew she was better than the treatment she'd bestowed upon Rachel. She was a good person, damnit. She went on with more conviction. "I mean, she's barely spoken for the past couple of weeks and at first I thought it was pretty cool, but have any of us improved recently? No one's hit any new notes, nobody's gotten better at their breathing, and it's taking us twice the amount of time to learn the choreography. As much as I hate to admit it, we kinda need her opinions and criticisms. They help us get better."

Santana scoffed. "I don't need RuPaul's nitpicking to improve. I'm already great."

This time Kurt was the one to speak up. "Santana, both you and Quinn have the tendency to go sharp on songs. Rachel doesn't just say that to be controlling. She's saying it because it's true."

"Excuse me, but since when are you on 'Team Berry'? You hate her as much as anybody else in here."

"Uuuh, I don't hate her," Matt said, but Kurt cut him off.

"Since I've come to what my old therapist would call 'radically accept' that Rachel Berry is very talented and quite knowledgable when it comes to most things music. Especially in relation to show choir. And I've been worried about her lately as well. I mean, it was lovely to get two solos in a row, but she didn't even look BOTHERED by it! Something's been off, and I have no idea what happened. But it seems to have coincided with her rejoining glee. I mean, she came back and helped us at Invitationals, calling us her FRIENDS, and then she takes on this vow of silence and doesn't look at ANY of us. To me it's more than a little odd."

Everyone was looking around at each other (sans Quinn and Santana of course. Brittany wasn't either, she was staring at her sneakers, always amazed by how intricate and complicated the process of Santana tying them was) knowing they'd all been just as... curious, and maybe even worried, about Rachel's behavior. That's when Quinn noticed Finn was staring straight through Mr. Shuester with a strange, almost constipated, look on his face.

He'd tuned back into the conversation right about when Kurt was going on about how Rachel's demeanor seemed to have totally changed when she came back to glee. And then before he knew it he was speaking.

"It's my fault," Finn said, and it came out sort of croaky and strangled.

Quinn's head whipped towards him, eyes narrowed dangerously.

Mr. Shuester looked at him worriedly, Kurt and Mercedes eyes had widened, Santana's had rolled, and Mike, Matt, and Artie all winced a bit because they sort of had a feeling about what happened. All three were the romantically inclined type of dudes, and had picked up all sorts of vibes emanating off of the pair.

Puck was looking at Quinn, pushing back the guilt at thinking that maybe she would get pissed off and ditch Finn for good, because he totally knew Finn had done something majorly stupid. Like, _hello_, who hadn't noticed that there was something going on between Finn and Rachel. Quinn just pretended it wasn't anything significant because she just NEEDED to have the Golden Boy as her baby daddy. Stupid Quinn and her stupid WASP ideals and desires. For a second he let himself mourn the fact that the only good looking JAP he knew was Rachel, and then continued to try to send Quinn telepathic messages to dump the Hulk and go for the Puckzilla.

Brittany was still staring at her shoes.

Tina was the first one to speak, and Finn himself winced when he looked at her because she looked kind of ticked off.

"What did you do, Finn?"

"Uh, well, see, I had talked to Ms. Pillsbury about scholarships and stuff cause of ya know, the baby, and she said althetics were hard and since our football team sucks I should aim for glee and a music scholarship. And like, Rach, she's the best chance we have of really doing good so I kinda... convincedhertocomeback." He mumbled out the last part, and ten pairs of eyebrows raised, still waiting to hear how it was 'his fault' that Rachel had been moping.

"And just how did you convince ManHands to come back?" Quinn's voiced, laced with a warning, cut through the thick silence.

"Stop calling her that!" Tina yelled, and Quinn looked at her in shock. It was the second time Tina had spoken out against Quinn, and it was something unprecedented. Tina just kept speaking, radiating irritation. "This is supposed to be a safe place, Quinn, and it's not fair that it's safe for everyone but Rachel. Say what you want behind her back, whatever, but in here NO ONE should have to put up with name calling and bullying. And if I was Rachel I don't think I would have come back to it!" She stood and grabbed her things, taking a step towards the door.

"Wait!" Brittany spoke up, and once again all the eyebrows in the room shot up. Finn just sort of sat still, hoping Quinn and the others remained distracted and he wouldn't have to explain just how he'd tried to convince Rachel to return. "Don't leave, Tina." Tina's mouth dropped open. She had no idea the blonde knew her name. "You are so right, this place has always been like the cocoon I built in the back of my closet of fishnet stockings. I go there and talk to Pickle the sock puppet. He never laughs at me, or says anything mean, or tries to touch my boobs."

Santana patted Brittany on the shoulder, and everyone sort of nodded slowly, except Finn who was once again brooding, eyes on his phone, having just sent another text. He turned his phone off and shoved it sort of roughly into his pocket, which caused Quinn's attention to land on him again.

"I'd still like to know just how you convinced," she let out a big put upon sigh, "_Rachel_ to come back," she said, and Finn felt the perspiration begin to squeeze from the pores on his forehead.

"We went bowling," he responded shortly, though he knew she'd keep digging.

"Cut the crap and just tell us what you did wrong," Santana cut in, and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly to stop himself from cursing at the girl.

"Fine. We, uh, well she... and then I... we kissed."

In a blink Quinn was standing up and yelling all sorts of angry nonsense at him about being a cheater and a scum and she just kept saying, "I'm PREGNANT, you idiot!"

Tina, Mercedes, and Kurt were joining the fray to try and convince Quinn to calm the hell down for the sake of the baby.

Puck was rubbing his hand over his mouth repeatedly, trying to stop from calling Quinn out on being a freaking _hypocrite_ and once again sending out telepathic messages to Quinn that matched the pleas of the three musketeers.

Everyone else were just kind of sitting stock still, staring, unsure what to do. Then as quickly as it began, it ended. Quinn sat down in a huff, the three trying to calm her down breathed a sigh of relief and went back to their seats, and Finn continued to sit there looking dejected.

"Alright," Mr. Shue began, looking quite out of his element, "well now that we understand why Rachel was upset, why don't we move on to the music."

"I am not singing today," Quinn replied, now looking near tears.

"Me neither," Tina crossed her arms after the declaration. She was still feeling the anger that had sprung out from deep within her conscience.

"I forgot all the lyrics, and Pickle ate my sheet music," Brittany joined in.

Mr. Shuester stood in front of the piano, annoyance filling him.

"You know what? Your assignment for today is to write an essay, at least 1,000 words long, that details why you're all in glee club," Mr. Shuester gritted out, ignoring all the looks of indignance and upset he saw facing him. Going to his office to get the paper, he stepped back into the room to see some of the negative looks replaced with that of resignation, a few of them even looking excited, (Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, and surpringly enough, Brittany and Finn) having already pulled pens and text books to lean on.

"Remember when I was talking about how the most important element of this group's performance is it's soul? It's your utter love for the music and performing that is going to get you guys to where you want to be. I want to see all of that in this paper. You have," he glanced at the clock, "about 15 minutes to at least outline a rough draft. I want you all to hand them in to me at the end of the day, and tomorrow I want you all to stop in during your free periods to finish them. I am taking this very seriously, and plan on grading the papers. I hope you all take this just as seriously. Reach deep inside of yourselves, guys. I've seen what you can do when you use all that you have inside of you."

Quinn told Mr. Shuester that she'd do the rough draft at home, but she was suddenly feeling quite "off" and wanted to go home. He wasn't surprised, but told her to drop off the rough draft before homeroom and that he wanted her there for her free period. She nodded, trying to hold back the look of annoyance, and walked out of the room quickly. She immediately went to her locker to grab her things, focused only on one task: Finding Rachel 'RuPaul ManHands' Berry and making her pay.

But when she checked Rachel's parking spot (Treasure Trail thought she was so clever, parking all hidden away. Quinn was just waiting to use the information, and today was going to be the day) her car wasn't there. So self absorbed was she that she had forgotten the detail of Rachel getting a ride to school with her boyfriend. She got into her own car and in her haste to get home, didn't notice Rachel emerging from the front doors.

As she drove home she planned her vengeance meticulously. By the time she'd arrived home Quinn had the whole idea in her head. The big nosed freak who had been a blot in Quinn's life since second grade would once and for all know her place. Come tomorrow, Quinn was sure Rachel would be planning her transfer to another school.

Little did she know that the best laid plans don't come to fruition. Especially when karma rears her ugly head.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note 2: I know it's a bit slow, but I am quite excited for where this is going! The plot is getting thicker and I really hope you all enjoy reading it as much I am enjoying writing it. This always soothes my soul when I find the show itself too depressing.<em>

_Much love,  
>Maggie xox.<em>


	4. MakeDamnSure

_Author's Note: Ack, I hope nothing is too rushed. But this story was supposed to be about how things can change in a flash. Thanks for all the alerts and positive feedback :) I hope you enjoy, and any feedback would be lovely._

_Disclaimer: Ryan Murphy owns Glee. If I did Santana would have gotten smacked down much sooner. :) No copyright infringement is intended._

* * *

><p>The rest of glee was spent with the room filling up with sounds of pens writing, paper being crumpled, quiet grumbling, and the occasional outburst of inspiration. Mr. Shue sat at the piano, having dismissed Brad, smiling contently. He had a good feeling about this. He hoped at least one of the kids left glee and tried to reach out to Rachel. Then he made himself a mental note to approach her and apologize, as her teacher and director, for neglecting her.<p>

Kurt sent Rachel a text telling her that it'd be better to wait by his car if she wanted to remain unseen by their teammates, and stood up to bring his paper to Mr. Shue. Tina and Mercedes handed him theirs as well, and he placed them on the piano.

The clock struck 4:30 just as he was sitting down, and the first people to leave the room were Puck, Matt, and Mike, all hastily throwing their papers on top of the others and darting out of the door.

Brittany sat there looking sad and Santana had to cajole her into leaving. Brittany departed and gave everyone a half-hearted wave while Santana walked briskly, pulling Brittany along and trying to think of ways to cheer up her friend.

Artie brought up his own paper and then left the room to go call his father and let him know that glee had ended. Usually Tina and him would sit together and wait for his dad and they'd give her a ride home.

Finn didn't move a muscle, just stared blankly at the outline he had begun so enthusiastically. He'd noticed that no one else would be able to read his paper and let himself write about why he really loved glee. But the more he read over things the things he'd written, like, "Singing with Rachel", "Dancing with Rachel", "Learning about what music really means... from Rachel," the more pathetic he felt. He sighed deeply, not even noticing that all the remaining eyes in the room darted to him.

But Kurt just rolled his eyes and went back to speaking lowly to Tina and Mercedes about giving Rachel a ride home, maybe a few times a week, and possibly building a friendship with her. Mercedes was looking at him, mouth slightly agape, because even though she missed Rachel's meddling in the club did not mean she wanted to be pals with the high-strung diva.

Mercedes spoke as truthfully as she could once the shock that Kurt, **Kurt**, wanted to befriend Rachel wore off a bit. "I don't know, I know she's good for the club and should be treated better than she has been, especially by us... but I'm not sure I'm diggin' the idea of spending time with her outside of glee."

"'Cedes, that girl was right when she said we've proven that no one really cares about her. She has no one to confide in, no one to stick up for her... I'm pretty sure the only friends she has are Finn, who apparently messed with her head," Kurt glanced at Finn quickly, his perception of the quarterback a bit different than it had been when he woke up that morning, "and her boyfriend, who she just met. Do you remember that when you thought you liked me, she went to Tina because she was worried about you?" Mercedes looked a big shamefaced at the reminder. "She can't be all bad if she would do that for you, and she gave that creeper Israel a pair of panties to save Quinn's rep."

"I think Quinn was right about Rachel doing that for Finn though," Mercedes said, trying to convince herself that Rachel was as selfish as she liked to believe.

"So?" Tina let out, feeling the irritation rise again, combined with disappointment in her friend. "The point is she did it. She risked humiliation to help another person. The fact that she might have feelings for that person makes her even more human, and it's especially impressive after what Finn did. We ALL know how she feels about him... I wonder if she even knew about Quinn being pregnant when they kissed."

The sound of a chair being kicked pulled their attention back to the fact that Finn was still in the room and Tina pressed her lips together, blushing, when she realized how loud her voice had become.

Finn was stalking towards the door but turned around and threw, "No, she didn't, because I'm an asshole," over his shoulder before slamming out of the room.

Poor Mr. Shuester looked like someone had kicked his puppy and hurried out of the room after Finn. Artie wheeled back into the room about a minute later, and the three remaining glee members were still sitting in an uncomfortable silence, not sure how to process just how badly Finn had screwed with Rachel.

"So... what'd I miss?" Artie asked, partially curious and partially concerned.

"Apparently the kiss between Finn and Rachel that took place while he was trying to convince her to return to the club happened before Rachel knew Quinn was pregnant."

Artie let the information sink in for a moment before whistling.

"Wow. Didn't know the playa had it in him," and even as Kurt, Mercedes, and Tina were trying to figure out if they should be annoyed at Artie for the comment, they found themselves agreeing.

"Yeah, I always thought Finn was the knight in shining armor type," Kurt remarked, now totally confused on his opinion about Finn.

But then his phone was vibrating due to an incoming text from Rachel.

"Oops," he said, skimming the text, "apparently she saw the guys speeding out of here and is wondering both what happened to have them in such a rush to leave and where I am. Mercedes, do you think you can handle a car ride with Rachel, or do you want to take the late bus home?"

"Damn... chick really does need someone though, especially right now," she said begrudgingly, though the more she thought about it, the more inclined she felt to actually get to know Rachel. Mercedes even found herself wanting to like Rachel and figured that Kurt was right; Rachel had attempted to protect Mercedes from the pain of falling for a gay guy.

Kurt and Tina were heading out the door, talking about something that sounded like shopping, and Artie just kind of shrugged and pushed his chair to follow them. Mercedes picked up her bag and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing, she figured.

Meanwhile Rachel was once again stopping her foot, which would start tapping about 30 seconds after she managed to reign the nervous tick in. She did not want to start this tentative acquantenceship off by seeming impatient or annoyed.

Rachel had barely given a second thought to them not singing during practice, but now the pessimistic side of her was picturing them all plotting to overthrow her, and that Kurt and Tina's cordial advances were merely diversionary tactics meant to lull her into a false sense of security. Shaking her head roughly, she tried to once again banish the engrained lessons that years of experience had taught her. She told herself that it was time to allow something positive and, dare she think it, 'new' into her life, and that this time it might not turn out in disaster. Because 'new' used to mean exciting and wonderful, and maybe she'd paid her dues and would finally be allowed some happiness again. Smiling at the thought, she uncrossed her arms and once again stopped her foot from tapping.

"Sorry for the wait, things were kind of wacky today," Kurt's voice drifted from behind the car, and then suddenly Rachel was faced with not only Kurt but Tina, Mercedes, and Artie, all of whom were looking at her with expressions she'd never seen directed at her before, except for maybe from Tina.

"Yeah, after you left things got a little... tense, and Mr. Shue ended up giving us a written assignment," Mercedes explained, and she noticed that her tone of voice had even changed when addressing Rachel. The girl in front of her didn't seem selfish, bossy, and conniving. She seemed worn but hopeful, and Mercedes found herself warming even more.

Rachel suddenly found herself getting upset, because it hit her that no one had sung a single note, and it was seemingly her fault. "But that doesn't make any sense! We have Sectionals coming up, we need to be in tip-top shape. I already have my part in the song downpat, but that doesn't mean everyone else shouldn't practice just because I don't!" When she realized how self-absorbed that sounded, she backpedaled, not wanting to ruin any chance of a good impression she might have on begun to make them. "What I mean to say is that what I do should not effect the rest of the club. Kurt, you know as well as I, the show must go on! We can't allow ourselves to become complacent or-"

"Okay, what did I say?" Kurt spoke over her, "I said I didn't want you in crisis mode. It was all for the good, actually, so stop worrying. I truly think it will help us all to work together as a team." Kurt spoke slowly and smiled slightly, nodding at Rachel until she returned the smile. He was glad they'd so far avoided the question of why things were 'tense'.

"Another thing we figured would help the team is the five of us going to mall together. We're going to think of ideas for what to wear at Sectionals," Tina said with a wide, excited smile that the others (minus Artie, who was trying not to grimace. He loved the people, but the activity wasn't really his first choice) shared, and she linked her arm with Rachel's.

Rachel scoffed a little, and even though she wanted things to go as smoothly as possible with them she couldn't help herself saying, "And you want me along for that? Me, the fashion disaster?"

Kurt's and Mercedes' smiles transformed into Chesire grins, and Rachel felt a sense of foreboding.

"If you'd allow 'Cedes and I the honor, we'd like to... spruce up your wardrobe. You can have all veto power, and while we'll try to pick things as close to your usual _character_ as possible. We're simply offering our expertise and asking you to have an open mind. Consider it a thank you for trying to help both Mercedes, and by extension me, through that awkward thing that occured between the two of us." The two exchanged quick grins before turning back to Rachel, eyes pleading and full of sincerity.

Rachel's entire face softened, and then there were tears in her eyes and she was fighting against a lump in her throat. She blamed it on reaching the limit of emotions she'd felt for the day. She was a cryer, but never really in front of people. Especially classmates. That didn't seem to stop two tears from sliding down her cheeks but she wiped them off with her free hand, tightened her hold on Tina's arm, and smiled brightly.

"That all sounds absolutely brilliant. Let's go shopping!" Rachel never thought she'd refer to shopping as 'absolutely brilliant' but the hope blazing in her chest deemed that a perfect description. "And would someone please tell me more about this writing assignment?" Rachel herself was studiously avoiding the topic of any discord that occured after she left glee. She was hoping to salvage the remains of the good in her day, and figured that if it wasn't the first thing Kurt or Mercedes had to say, it couldn't be that important.

Artie's father had arrived just as Rachel let out a squeel of delight at the paper Mr. Shuester had assigned, and he and Tina got into the van while Mercedes, Kurt, and Rachel climbed into Kurt's SUV.

Finn walked out of the school just as the two vehicles were pulling onto the road. After Mr. Shuester had calmed him down, subtly admonishing his behavior but in this totally understanding way, he'd forced his heavy body towards his locker. Focused entirely on forcing his body to move (he felt like he'd taken some sort of beating), he grabbed his letterman jacket and keys and continued trudging slowly out of the school.

He mustered up enough awareness to drive carefully and cautiously home, fleetingly thinking happy thoughts that involved his bed and sleep and blocking out the world.

Walking despondantly through the front door he heard the sound of his mother crying and followed it to the living room. His worry turned to affection when he saw her sitting on the couch, tear-drenched eyes glued to the screen, as a movie on Lifetime came to a close.

Finn took in the image of her glistening cheeks and felt the last of his energy drain from his body. Plopping down next to her he turned his attention to the screen. Carole shot him another one of her worried looks but kept quiet, deciding to simply enjoy her son's company and wait for the moment he was ready to talk about what was going on.

Finn was trying to blank out his mind, but the harder he tried not to think the more the thoughts piled up. So he forced his attention on the weird girly movie that had begun. Whenever Finn's thoughts would go anywhere near the events of the day, he would turn his attention back to the screen. What he had caught so far from the plot line was that this crazy woman was married to this dude who was losing interest in their marriage. She somehow convinced him that it was time for them to have children, but months of trying led to nothing. They both went to get tested to see if something was wrong, but CrazyWoman talked the doctor into giving her the results for her husband first. When it turned out he was infertile, the psycho apparently named Martha paid to doctor to tell him there was nothing wrong with either of them and they just had to keep trying. Then, in all her infinite crazy, she went out and began sleeping with every man she saw who looked like her husband. Finn was in one of his space out moments when Martha started shrieking about her husband wearing briefs. She was flipping out about how it was irresponsible of him because the underwear made it 'too hot down there' and could damage his sperm and endanger their chances at reproducing.

Suddenly Finn's thoughts were piling up again. "Quinn said warm temperatures helped," he muttered to himself, eyebrows furrowed tightly.

"What?" Carole asked, although she'd heard him perfectly. Why would they be wanting any _help_ in that department? "Sweety, are you and Quinn... sexually active?" Carole hoped not. She hadn't that the 'talk' with him, hoping that they were close enough that he might come to her before it happened. The way he'd made it sound, though, it was like they were trying to get pregnant!

"NO! I mean, no," he was flustered, and now the flood gates were opening and his yearning for answers to all these questions in his head was coming to a boiling point. "Quinn's pregnant mom." There. He'd manned up and said it. It was out and even through the sick feeling in his stomach at his mom's stricken face, he felt as if the load he was bearing seemed to lighten.

"But honey, you just said you weren't sexually active," Carole spoke softly, trying to realign her world which had just titled on its axis.

"I'm not, but um, one day we were in her hot tub, and I uuh, I got a little... overexcitedandyeah." He coughed a bit and rushed on, the words spilling out of him. "She said her teacher told her that heat helps the... sperm," he grimaced slightly, "travel faster or something. But this lady just said heat causes problems, and I had my bathing suit on too, so now I'm, ah, confused and worried and I don't know what's going on." Finn looked like he was either on the verge of breaking down in tears or raging, Carole wasn't sure which.

"Finn, it would be impossible for you to have gotten her pregnant like that. You're sure that's the only time it could have happened? You're also 100% sure that Quinn is pregnant?"

"Yes, we've only ever made out!" Finn's was feeling kind of dizzy. "And yes, totally positive she's pregnant." Apparently the pregnancy tests, which she'd taken in school, were _still_ in her locker. She was too paranoid that Jacob Ben-Israel would do some sort of crazy DNA test on it if she threw it in the trash at school, and find out it was hers. And obviously she couldn't throw them out at home, or risk someone seeing her put them in the dumpters. "I saw the tests." And that's when it hit him then, the horrible conclusion to these revelations- Quinn was most definitely pregnant, and he was most definitely **not** the father.

* * *

><p>At the mall the five glee members were sitting in the food court, laughing at Artie's impression of Mr. Shuester rapping.<p>

Kurt was thinking about how refreshing it was to hang out with Rachel in a relaxed environment. He had always been of the strong opinion that no one could be put into a box and Rachel was proving that to be quite true. Everyone could tell she was sort of restraining herself, but at the same time she wasn't changing her personality. She did come off as more endearing when she was passionately discussing Spring Awakening **with them** instead of talking **at them** about exactly how she would portay the character of Wendla when she undoubtebly landed the role on Broadway. Rachel was still completely herself, but she'd apparently taken it to heart when Kurt had told her she didn't need to prove her worth to them.

Mercedes was now nudging Rachel's shoulder, trying to get her to join her in singing "Bust Your Windows", which had Kurt rolling his eyes and Tina laughing through her fingers. The fashionista was a bit surprised at just how much she'd enjoyed their trip to the mall, including Rachel's presence. Mercedes and Kurt had tried to find outfits that were close enough to Rachel's style that she'd be comfortable, but far enough that they might be called 'sexy'.

Rachel had actually been even more open than they'd expected. They did see her biting her lip a few times, but their was a sparkle in her eyes that caused them to believe she was quite enjoying the attention. Three new skirts, four shirts, and two new sweaters later (not only were their fashion senses impeccable, but between Kurt and Mercedes there was not a discount that would go unnoticed. Rachel was amazed at how little she'd spent, considering.) their empty stomachs had them agreeing on stopping for food. Once there they finally broached the topic of color scheme and outfit styles they should wear for Sectionals. Once they'd decided (black pants and shirts with red ties for the boys, black cocktail dresses with red sashes that tied into bows in the back for the girls) they'd fallen into banter and random outbursts of song, attracting a few strange looks and sweet smiles from surrounding shoppers.

When Artie pointed out that it was approaching 8 o'clock they decided it was time for them to part and go to their respective homes. Artie and Tina told the other three goodbye and Artie pulled out his phone to call his dad.

Rachel had texted her father's earlier to tell them she'd be out past dinner and would have to, with sincerest regrets (yeah right), miss out on vegan burrito night. She pulled out her phone to let them know she was on her way home.

Now, as they once again got into Kurt's SUV, conversation finally turned to Rachel's new beau.

"So," Kurt began tentatively, "what school is your boyfriend from anyway?" A beat, "It's Carmel, isn't it?"

Rachel sighed, looking up from her phone and feeling uncomfortable for the first time since they arrived at the mall. "Yes, but I promise it will effect _nothing_. We've both agreed to ignore the fact that we're on opposing teams, except for when it comes to scheduling issues. And anyway," she huffed a bit, "glee is something very near and dear to my heart. I may have shared some things with him, but we're still just getting to know one another. There's no way I would share that part of myself with him yet, even if I could."

Both Kurt and Mercedes nodded, and Mercedes apologized for implying that Jesse had any devious motives inspiring his interest in her. Rachel accepted the apology and indulged them in the short story of their meeting. When they asked about her dates, Rachel told them about how he jumped at the opportunity to take her mini golfing after she'd expressed how it always made her feel better. Mercedes smirked at Rachel and said, "The guy sounds quite smitten."

"I agree. I also think he is absolutely hunk-a-licious. He had great hair, and I would know," Kurt opined, and Mercedes giggled indulgently. Rachel was glad Kurt seemed to approve, even if only of his appearance.

"I only saw his car, but I liked the color," Mercedes commented, and Rachel went on to explain that his choice in car only boosted her opinion of him, considering it was eco-friendly.

When they pulled up to Rachel's house their conversation, which had turn to the theory of global warming (Rachel and Kurt were having a friendly debate on the damage his car was doing to the environment), was cut short and without warning Rachel leaned forward and hugged them both from the backseat. Each hug was brief but significant to Rachel because they were exchanged with actual friends. Or so she hoped. Rachel pulled back and worried for a moment that she'd crossed a line, but they both just smiled at her and told her they'd see her tomorrow.

"Have a great night, guys. Thank you so much for today," Rachel said, and hopped out of the car before she started sniveling to them about how she thinks today was the first time since moving to Lima that she'd felt like she was in the company of people who really like her; the her she was underneath all the flare and veneer.

Breezing into the house, she saw her father's and, avoiding the more colorful occurences, gave them a summary of her day and explained just how she ended up shopping with people who she'd recently claimed loathed her very existence.

Though her parents, two very insightful men, knew there was much more to the story than they were privy to, they sent her off to prepare for bed with a kiss each, telling her how glad they were that others were finally seeing her for the wonder she was.

She almost told them that the whole point, the very best part, was they saw her as just _Rachel_, but figured that that's what her father's meant anyway. They just couldn't help but glorify their little princess.

Rachel went up to her room and instantly called Jesse, apologizing profusely for not contacting him that whole day.

"Not a problem, I was stuck in rehearsal until about 20 minutes ago actually. Our coach is kind of hardcore," he laughed, and then remembered their deal to not talk about their respective glee clubs. "What kept you so busy today, besides your own rehearsal?"

"Actually, I left practice. I kind of exploded on them when I was confronted about the boy, that would be you, who dropped me off this morning. When they somehow managed to get out of me that you were from a rival team, it seemed like they assumed you were only showing interest in me to conduct 'funny business' that would somehow threaten the club. So I stormed out."

"Uh, well, that sounds really horrible. So, can I ask why do you seem so jovial after a day like that? What'd you end up doing?" Jesse wondered, annoyed himself that her teammates would assume he was trying to sabotoge their team. Not that he'd tell Rachel this, but he didn't really see them as competition. To Jesse, if he was involved there really was NO competition; it was a moot point.

An hour and a half later, Rachel had finished telling Jesse about most of what had occured after walking out of glee (minus anything that involved Finn) when she caught a glimpes of the time.

"Oh my goodness, have I really been talking that long? I am so sorry Jesse, it's horribly late!" Rachel was glad he couldn't see her blushing. She had no idea that she'd be going on that long, but today had been such an experience. Even after telling her father's about it she was still so elated she felt like yelling from the rooftops.

Jesse laughed lightly, telling her it was no hardship at all listening to her melodious voice, and she was so adorable for thinking he was put off by it in the least. He bid her sweet dreams and told her he'd see her in the morning. Rachel hung up her phone and crawled into bed. She was still buzzing from the day and worried that she'd have trouble falling asleep. Her worries were all for naught it seemed, as she drifted off shortly after planning her outfit for the next day consisting entirely of the clothes Kurt and Mercedes had picked out for her.

* * *

><p>It took about 2 hours of Finn yelling, Carole soothing, and the both of them crying before Finn announced that he was going to his room. His mother had finally talked him into waiting for school the next day to talk to Quinn. She told him it would give him time to reign himself in and approach her calmly. Carole had impressed the point that even though she may have lied about the paternity and conception and needed to come clean about it, their was still a child growing inside of her and so she should remain as calm and relaxed as possible. Finn figured that it was probably a smart idea to wait considering he couldn't even think her name without wanting to smash whatever was within reach.<p>

Relying on COD to distract him, he turned his console on and finally lost himself in the merciless killing of CG zombies.

His mom stopped in at 11 o'clock to say goodnight, forcing Finn to pause his game and give her a hug. He was afraid when hugged her that he'd start crying again, especially when she told him how glad she was he'd come to her and how proud she was of him. He didn't ask why, mostly because he couldn't seem to get his voice to work, but he nodded at her and pulled away, picking up his game controller.

"Go to bed soon honey, please?" she requested, but he just gave her a quick perfunctory nod, not taking his eyes off the melee on screen.

Laying down around 1 o'clock, Finn tossed and turned for a little over an hour before reaching for his pants and pulling his phone out of the pocket. He turned it back on, worried that Quinn may have texted him, and hopeful that Rachel had responded. He didn't even care if Rachel's response was angry, he just needed to feel connected to her. She **was** his lifeline, he knew that now. He **needed** her.

When the gadget came to life and revealed that absolutely no one had tried to contact him, Finn sat and stared at the screen. Five times he pressed the menu button to light the screen back up, and he still wasn't sure why he hadn't put the thing down and tried to go back to sleep. Obviously she was done with him. The thought made him want to curl up in a corner and fade into his cowboy wallpaper.

_**No**_, he thought. She wasn't done with him, because he _**was not**_ done with her. He wasn't totally sure where tomorrow was going to lead his life, or the relationships in it, but he knew for sure that he had to have Rachel involved in his life whatever way he could. Finding his backbone, he typed out the words that were repeating over and over in his head and pressed 'send'.

_ur the only person in the world i can trust. i miss u so much rach._

He wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling she wouldn't be able to ignore that. With that thought Finn finally relaxed and drifted off to sleep, a picture of Rachel's smile flashing through his mind.


	5. You Know How I Do

_Author's Note: I don't want anything to be unclear to my readers, so if I have written this in a way where you're not sure of timeline or anything, please let me know. I once again hope that I've stayed true to the characters (I'm not only worried because this is my first Glee fanfic, but also because this is AU-ish and I'm always afraid that AU means Alternate Personalities for the characters). So that's why I keep getting hung up on that. Still un-beta'd, so all mistakes are mine._  
><em>On with the story.<em>

_Disclaimer: Ryan Murphy owns Glee and the many characters involved. I'm just playing with them. :) No copyright infringment is intended._

* * *

><p>6:15am and Rachel was awakened by the sound of her alarm. She hopped out of bed and slipped into her robe, grabbing her cell phone and slipping it into her robe pocket before bouncing down the steps to begin her day.<p>

She quickly made her usual morning smoothie, organizing her morning in her mind.

Humming while sipping the drink, Rachel pulled out her cell phone and texted Jesse.

_Am I right to assume I will be seeing you in about an hour?_

But the message "Unable to send text" popped up on her screen and she started panicking. What if Jesse had tried to contact her because he couldn't be there this morning? How would she know to get herself to school in time? And why was her service shut off? Had she forgotten to pay the bill?

It seemed highly unlike as she was always very much a stickler about that. Her father's had opened her a checking account when she was 8 years old and while the money was an accumulation of allowance and birthday money since that age, she was still very proud of how frugal she had been with it and demanded that she be allowed to contribute to her cell phone bill. So once a month her father's would deposit enough money to cover half of the bill into her account and Rachel would write out the check for payment. This would only be the second time she'd forgotten to pay the bill, but Rachel figured she was allowed a lapse now and again, especially with the way life had been going lately.

Scrolling through her contacts (and stopping over Finn's name for a moment, still unable to delete his number) she came upon the listing for Jesse's cell phone. Dialing the number on her house phone, she hoped her boyfriend (it kind of felt strange to think of him like that) was as early a riser as she.

Jesse, as it turned out, was the type of person who would turn into a total grouch if roused even a minute earlier than their alarm was set to go off. He shortly informed Rachel that yes, he planned on picking her up that morning. That's what he had meant when he said 'on the daily'; that he would be driving her in **every day**. With a quick, "I need coffee. See you soon." he had hung up on her.

Forcing herself not to take it any of what he'd said personally since, she reasoned that some people were just not 'morning people' and took a deep breath, plastering on a look of determination. Prompty cleaning up her dishes, she went upstairs to throw on her work-out clothes and stepped onto the elliptical.

Half an hour later and she was wrapped in a towel, hair tousled from being towel dried, pulling out the outfit she'd planned the night before. Feeling both nervous and exhilirated at the idea of wearing something so her/not her (Kurt had called it nerdy teacher _chic_, as opposed to retired librarian _ick_) Rachel pulled on her white lacy boyshorts (Kurt and Mercedes had both been adamant in their belief that the undergarments were vital to making any outfit work because it would help her feel the vibe of the look or some other whatnot. Rachel's not really sure she's heard them talk about clothes, or anything really, like that before, and even if Rachel couldn't totally understand it she felt as if it was all part of them showing her who they really were. Thus the exiliration... she had FRIENDS!) and matching lacy bra, before donning the grey, tight fitting short skirt and pulling on the white button down short sleeves shirt that dipped to just above the bra, with designs in raised fabric running from the collar to the bottom and folds on the sleeves that pinned into ivy white flower shaped buttons. She tucked it in and zipped up the skirt, completing the outfit with a black band belt around her waist and a satin black scarf with grey polka dots that she tucked under the collar and tied into a knot that fell below the first button. Kurt had insisted that the scarf tied the whole thing together. Rachel looked at herself in the outfit for just a moment, long enough to admire it but short enough to stop herself from overthinking. Squaring her shoulders before slipping into her favorite pair of black flats with a small black bow on the top, Rachel grabbed up her belongings and went to sit on her porch swing to wait for Jesse.

* * *

><p>At 7:45am, in a room adorned with cowboy wallpaper, Finn was already awake when his own alarm began to go off. His brain felt fuzzy, and he seemed to have developed some sort of strange tunnel vision. He had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep before waking up and had spent the time since staring at his ceiling, so he figured that probably had something to do with it.<p>

Reaching for his phone to silence the alarm he proceeded to turn it off without looking at it. Finn had decided to avoid everything and everyone until school that day. He couldn't have dealt with Quinn without flipping out and he still hadn't worked up the courage to see if Rachel had finally responded. When he had awoken a little after 5am he had grabbed up his phone and contemplated sending Quinn a message that he had to talk to her. But then he remembered coming clean about his kiss with Rachel, in front of the whole club no less, and decided that she was probably pretty mad at him right now anyway. Figuring he could avoid and then pull the 'we need to talk' line to cut off her rehearsed (and highly ironic) rant about how he was a bastard for cheating on her, he had set his phone to 'Alarm Only' and thrown a black t-shirt over it after lying it upside down. That way if it lit up he wouldn't get his hopes up that it was Rachel only to be let down if it was, say, Puck, or enraged when, since it was only a matter of time, Quinn decided to contact him.

Going on auto-pilot, Finn showered quickly and, after throwing on the first clean shirt and pair of pants he could find, stumbled down to the kitchen and scarfed down a couple of Pop-Tarts before darting out of the door.

Getting into his car, he had to stop his mind from drifting to all the confrontations that were probably going to take place that day. Regretting the Pop-Tarts that sat heavy in his stomach Finn turned on the ignition, turned up his radio, and searched for the ever elusive courage that he could only hope he truly possessed.

* * *

><p>Quinn had set her alarm early and arrived at school at 7:15, practically sprinting from her car to the Queen of the Gleek's usual parking space. Knowing that Rachel got to school almost an hour early on most days Quinn smoothed out her Cheerios uniform and crossed her arms, preparing to wait patiently for the games to begin.<p>

Ten minutes turned into thirty, and then it was almost time for homeroom and Rachel had yet to arrive. Looking at her phone for the 100th time and seeing that Finn had not answered a single one of the (15 since she woke up) texts she'd sent, Quinn growled a bit before she stomped her foot, turned on the spot, and marched into school.

She grew even more enraged when she realized that, unless he sought her out, she probably wouldn't be seeing Finn until 6th period lunch. Their schedules were actually pretty seperate and they wouldn't see each other unless they purposefully crossed paths in the hall or he cut Science during her free period. She was about to call him until he answered and demand that he meet her then when she remembered that she had to go to **stupid** glee to do that **stupid** paper during her free period and she dashed into the bathroom, not sure if she wanted to scream or cry. What was going on in her life that it had started to revolve around someone like Rachel Berry? And Finn! He had KISSED that parasite while he was supposed to be _Quinn's_ boyfriend! Her boyfriend who thinks he got her **pregnant**!

All of a sudden Quinn fell off of her high horse and crashed back to reality. She rested her hand on her stomach and turned slowly towards the mirror. The expression of her face was as if she'd been slapped and she felt herself faltering, wondering when she had become this person.

* * *

><p>After a mostly silent and awkward car ride, where they'd both gone to apologize at almost the same time, stopped, looked away from one another and said no more, Rachel was waving goodbye to Jesse as he pulled out of the parking lot. As she walked into school she was trying to fight off the apprehension. It wasn't until she'd arrived at her locker that she realized she'd forgotten to bring a change of clothes to school. So caught up in focusing on her new outfit she hadn't even considered that the enemy (aka any Neanderthal football player with $1.10 in their pocket) might consider it their obligation to douse her and ruin her new ensemble. Rachel was getting herself so worked up that she jumped two inches off of the ground when someone called her name.<p>

"Whoa, what's got you so spooked?" asked Kurt, delicate eyebrow raised wonderingly.

"Um," Rachel almost told him she was focusing on a new number for glee and he'd simply startled her, but then she reminded herself that she really wanted to have a true friendship with him. "I seem to have forgotten to bring a spare change of clothes to school, so in the event that this wonderful one you and Mercedes so kindly chose for me gets covered in liquid ammunition I'll have no choice but to walk around in school all day a sticky mess."

Kurt let out a small chuckle.

"Don't sweat it, Rachel. I'm quite confident that they won't be bothering you today. One look at you and they'll be too stunned to cause you any harm. And if worse comes to worse, Mercedes and I will be able to pull something together, so pep up!"

"You're right. I can't let myself be paralyzed by bullies. To be honest, I'm quite enthused about working on my outline and rough draft for the glee assignment. I believe by 8th period I'll be ready to simply write out the final paper," Rachel was now smiling, no longer thinking about being drench by a dreaded slushie. "Wait, what are you doing here so early?" It was only 7:23, and the late bell for homeroom didn't ring until 8:15.

"I needed to use the printer in the library for a History assignment. Mine broke last night. I almost lost an Alexander McQueen shirt during the disaster! Two of the ink cartridges literally exploded!" Kurt looked absolutely mortified, and Rachel gave him a sympathetic look. "Actually, I should probably go work on it now. See you in English. And let me know right away if there is a wardrobe mishap! If you are slushied I want to begin work on stain removal immediately. Both the shirt and skirt are Vera Wang, and that scarf is-"

"Chanel, I know. Trust me, you're the first person I will seek out if anything untoward occurs, Kurt." She gave him a grateful smile and hugged him quickly like she had the night before. This time he had the chance to respond to the embrace and then they were heading in different directions.

Rachel walked into the auditorium, determined to practice the song they were meant to sing in glee the day before. She'd been truthful when she had said the routine downpat but she knew there was always room for improvement.

Losing herself in the repetive nature that is perfecting a routine for a song, Rachel didn't immediately notice the growing sound of voices in the hallway.

When the noise reached her she checked her phone and saw it was 8:07. Jumping as if burned she gathered her things quickly and rushed to her locker and made it to homeroom with 4 minutes to spare.

As was the norm, she spent the fifteen minute period ignoring Jacob's advances, but what was different was that Artie and Tina were in her homeroom and today she was having a lively conversation with them. It wasn't that they usually ignored her, per say, but other than polite "Hello"s exchanged, and the occasional discussing of an assignment, they'd never really spoken.

Taken aback by how quickly homeroom ended, Rachel parted ways with her two new friends and headed towards her Science class.

History ended and as Rachel headed to her locked she let herself be thankful that the day had gone on so far without incident, save the fact that she had caught quite a few boys staring at her chest and rear end. Rachel was so distracted by it all that as she stood at her locker, humming a tune, she didn't even notice that someone was standing there, staring at her.

"You must really hate me, huh?" Finn's voice might have startled her but it was barely more than a whisper and, turning wide eyes to him, Rachel wasn't even sure if she'd heard him at all.

"What?" she questioned, feeling a tightening in her gut as the guilt at ignoring him filtered in. Rachel knew she had a right to be upset with him, but there was something in his eyes she couldn't quite place and it was making her heart ache.

"I know I messed up Rach, I really do, but that text that I sent you... I thought it would..." Finn looked down and shook his head. "But you must really hate me, and that's that." He looked at her with his heart in his eyes and took a step to walk past her. For some reason she couldn't let him go.

"Finn, wait, what text? I, I probably didn't get it. My phone service shut off during the night. It seems that I forgotton to pay the bill. The last text I recieved from you was," Rachel couldn't quite get herself to repeat the message, "was yesterday, after I left glee."

Finn's whole body had stiffened when she grabbed him, but as soon as she'd finished speaking he was wrapping his arms around her waist and squeezing the breath out of her, pressing his nose against her neck. "Rach," he whispered, and though she couldn't tell if he was adressing her she fought off a shiver and responded anyway.

"What, Finn?" her voice was muffled against his shoulder. She had automatically wrapped her arms around his neck and was holding on for dear life, fighting back tears as she admitted to herself how right it felt to be in his arms.

Finn pulled back but he put both of his hands on her shoulders and seemed to be having an internal debate with himself. Just as she was going to remind him she had to go to class, he opened his mouth and said something that stopped Rachel in her tracks.

"The baby isn't mine."

Finn's voice was sure and determined as he said it but as the words hung in the air his face crumpled in on itself and he was once again holding on to Rachel, whispering to her about the story Quinn fed him about the hot tub and how yesterday a Lifetime movies and his mother helped him figure it all out.

The late bell rang, but it sounded far off to Rachel. She felt tears form in her eyes and her cheeks grow red and hot as a mixture of indignance, sorrow, and utter disgust rose inside of her. Rachel couldn't help herself; she cared deeply for Finn, even if she shouldn't, and knew without a doubt that she'd forgiven him.

"I'm such a moron for believing it, though. I mean, if I wasn't so stupid-"

"Don't! Don't you dare put yourself down! The only person at fault here is Quinn! She cheated on you, and she lied to you about something important and life changing! I mean, what was she going to do, let you fall in love with that life growing inside of her and keep the truth to herself forever?" The tears were now spilling over and Finn's hangdog expression had changed to a look of surprise, like he couldn't believe Rachel was getting so upset over this. He reached for her and started rubbing her back soothingly.

"Hey, shh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I probably shouldn't have told you, I haven't even told her that I know yet. But..." his hand stopped, and Rachel looked up at him as he stared at the ceiling.

"Finn," she whispered, and his eyes locked with hers, "I don't hate you, okay? I'm your friend, and you can tell me anything."

"That's just it Rachel," he said, sounding almost pleading. "You're the only person in this whole school I can trust. And last night... last night that's what I said to you." Rachel gave Finn a watery smile, her heart warming at the idea that he thought so highly of her. "And also that I- I miss you," he said softly, his face inching closer to hers.

* * *

><p>Just as Finn was about to give in to his need to kiss Rachel, a voice began shrieking loudly.<p>

"What are you doing? You're going to kiss her AGAIN? Are you KIDDING ME? What kind of jerk are you, you- you jerk!" Quinn was standing a few feet away, one hand on her hip while the other pointed at Finn.

Finn felt Rachel's back stiffen and she shot Quinn a look before pulling away slowly. Finn was disappointed until she grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I should really be getting to Keyboarding. I'll see you later, okay?" she said and, ignoring Quinn's death glare and Finn's imploring gaze she hurried off to the computer wing. Finn watched her go, realizing that Rachel was wearing a skirt he'd never seen before; a skirt that hugged her-

"Excuse me!" Quinn yelled again, pulling Finn's attention back to her. "First you cheat on me at the bowling alley and now you're practically dry humping in the middle of the hallway! It's bad enough that the whole glee club knows MY boyfriend kissed the biggest loser in this whole school, I don't want the entire population of McKinley to see y-"

"Calm down! Seriously. You can't be freaking out like that now! Do you not care that there's a baby trying to grow inside of you?" Finn let out, trying to keep his tone in check. He needed her to stop yelling, not only because it wasn't good for the baby but because he needed to remain calm so he could get this out coherently. Finn secretly feared that if he got too emotional everything would come out a mess of curses, half-formed words, and the occasional whimper.

Quinn blinked twice, looking rightly chastised, before taking a few breaths and placing her hand delicately over her belly. Finn winced but walked up to her and grabbed the hand hanging at her side, pulling her into an empty classroom.

"We need to talk."

"Actually, what I _need_ is to go to the choir room so I can finish that stupid essay for glee club," Quinn said, but made no move to leave.

Finn rolled his eyes, deciding to ignore the comment about their glee assignment, and tried to think about how he'd planned to start this off. Oh yeah, honesty.

"I'm going to be completely honest right now, Quinn. And I really hope you'll be honest to, mostly because I feel like if you tell the truth it will stop me from completely flipping out."

* * *

><p>Quinn's whole body flashed cold and there were goosebumps on her arms. She wasn't sure how but she just <em>knew<em> that he **knew**. When he first said the dreaded 'we need to talk' catchphrase Quinn thought he was going to dump her then and there to be with Rachel. But now, looking into his eyes... the way he was said the word 'honest'... and he hadn't refered to the baby as 'our baby' but 'a baby'...

"The truth about what, Finn?" Quinn asked, finding herself hoping that he was actually conducting an ilicit affair behind her back.

"I don't know, like how you can't really make a baby through a bathing suit in 110 degree water?" he gritted out, and Quinn could tell he was fighting to maintain his composure.

"I," Quinn began, but her mouth was suddenly dry and the chills had turned into a slow spreading heat through her whole body, making her feel dizzy and nauseous. "I need to sit down," she whispered.

Finn was instantly at her side, guiding her to a chair and depositing her in it gently. It seemed his generosity ended there as he stepped away from her and crossed his arms protectively over his chest. Quinn reached into her school bag for a bottle of Ginger Ale that she'd been keeping handy, sipping it slowly while staring at the wall. She was wondering what this meant for her life, for her baby.

"How did you know?" she questioned meekly.

"Does it matter? What matters is that I know now," he spoke softly but there was a sharp edge to each word that seemed to pierce Quinn's heart.

"I'm so sorry, Finn," Quinn choked out, tears springing to her eyes.

"You know what, I'm not sure I believe that," Finn said, voice raising a bit. "But whatever, I said what I needed to say. I have to go." Finn stood up and stepped towards the door but something stopped him. Quinn felt hope bloom in her chest, but then Finn spoke without even turning around.

"Who's the father?"

For a second she was about to tell him that it was none of his business who the father was, _thankyouverymuch_. But she figured she owed him that much at least.

"Puck."

Quinn saw his fists clench and he took a meaningful step toward the door.

"Wait! It wasn't his fault!" They had both betrayed him by sleeping together, yes, but Puck had not wanted to lie. "I mean, you not knowing wasn't his fault. I made that decision."

That got him to turn around.

"Why, though? Obviously you don't want to be with me, so why tell me I'm the father?" he asked, and Quinn's mouth dropped open.

"What are you talking about?" she wondered. She didn't understand. She had chosen HIM to be the father of her child, wasn't that proof enough that it was him she wanted?

"You cheated on me!" He bit out, and then a light seemed to go on. "And I cheated on you. We don't really want each other. I want... and you-." He shook his head. "You can't just pick and chose what's real, Quinn. You can't lie and pretend that it isn't hurting other people."

With that Finn walked out and Quinn sat in the chair, staring at the same spot on the wall, until the bell rang.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note2: I hope I explained the outfit well enough! I'm not really a fashionista myself and as such have made it a point to only reference clothing in my writing in a very non-descript way. So that was a new challenge. And the detail of her underwear will be important- Remember when I said this might get M-rated... ;)<em>

_Also, Quinn is probably the hardest character for me to write because I am always at extremes with the girl. I'm either all feeling for her and seeing her as a human being, and the next I want her to 'be eaten by a lion', haha. So, sorry if she's totally all back and forth, but she IS pregnant and hormonal. /end rant_

_Until next time,_

_Maggie xo._


	6. Error Operator

_Author's Note: This chapter has a hint of Quick because the muses just wouldn't let it go, but I mean hint people. I just needed to resolve that part of the storyline. So no worries, this is still chock full o' Finchel._

_Thank you to everyone who is reviewing, especially **i-am-a-nerdfighter** and **oftheheart** for reviewing each chapter. It gives me such a boost, and I know I wouldn't be chugging along the way I am without you! I hope you enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: Ryan Murphy owns glee. No copyright infringement is intended._

* * *

><p>Finn wasn't really sure what to do with himself so he spent the rest of 3rd period in the boys locker room, staring at his hands until they stopped shaking.<p>

Puck was the father. His best friend had slept with his girlfriend.

**Puck**.

Finn had known as soon as he'd heard that name that he didn't really love Quinn. Because he didn't feel nearly half as angered at the part she in everything as he did at Puck. The guy had been like a brother to him! This only served to reinforce Finn's conviction that Rachel and his mom were the only people in his life he could rely on.

Later on Finn wouldn't be able to say if he was glad or regretful that the subject of his musings chose that moment to walk through the locker room doors.

"Figured I'd find you here," Puck said quietly, and even through the many thoughts and feelings flowing through his mind and body, Finn found a second to think about how strange it felt to hear Puck speak so... softly. There wasn't the usual hard 'I'm a badass hear me roar' edge to it, and he was reminded of the 8 year old Noah he'd first met.

"I guess Quinn told you that I know, huh?" Finn was still staring at his hands that were once againt formed into fists. He figured if he didn't LOOK at Puck he wouldn't be able to HIT him, since he wouldn't know exactly where he was standing.

"Look," Puck spoke a little sharper this time, and Finn was oddly grateful for it, "what Quinn and I did was wrong but only because she is- was? - your girl. And okay, so it was totally an asshole move. But dude," Finn almost held his head so he wouldn't look at the douchebag, "I'm not gonna apologize for something that made my baby." Finn couldn't resist anymore and turned his whole body towards Puck.

They both held a silent staring contest and Finn's mind seemed to slow down and disconnect from his body. He couldn't have stopped himself if he tried, and only seemed to regain control of his fist AFTER it had crashed against Puck's jaw.

The Mohawked-boy stumbled back, one hand going up to his jaw while righting himself, rubbing gingerly.

"You know it might have been stupid to believe her story in the first place but for a little while I thought that was MY baby! And that- that's even worse than you sleeping with her in the first place! This is high school so it's not like I planned on marrying her..." Finn stopped shaking out his right hand and rubbed his face with his left before looking Puck in the eye. "I thought I was gonna be a dad, Puck. And you're my BEST FRIEND and you not only got my girlfriend pregnant but you let her **lie** to me about it!"

"Fuck you if you think that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to stand up and be there for **my kid** but Quinn told me that she'd lie until the day she died cause she didn't want a 'Lima Loser' to be her baby's father! So sorry if I wasn't instantly jumping to tell you the truth, but I didn't want to risk her totally cutting me out!"

Finn had seen all of the emotions crossing Puck's face as he spoke and even though a part of him understood, a bigger part of him was still raw from it all.

"Well she can't lie anymore," Finn said, hoping Puck would get that Finn wanted him to be able to be there for his baby.

Puck nodded and made a move towards Finn.

"So we cool, man?" He asked, his hand held out as if waiting to shake with Finn. When Finn only raised an eyebrow Puck pulled his hand back.

"Not by a long shot, _dude_," Finn spit out, but he hoped that Puck got that there was a maybe someday hidden in there. After all, 8 years of friendship didn't just disappear. The bell rang and without another word Finn walked out, trying to at least appear calm before heading to his 4th period class. When he sat down he looked around and let out a sigh; he really wished he had more classes with Rachel.

* * *

><p>Rachel was almost halfway through her assignment in 4th period Spanish when she was once again distracted by her unquiet mind.<p>

This whole morning, or more accurately the past day and a half, had seemed to have drastically altered her life. Two days ago she was a loser who had no friends, had been betrayed by the one person who she'd labeled as such, and she had tentatively begun her first romantic relationship with a seemingly perfect boyfriend.

Now she had a few people she could refer to as friends, even if the connections were new, while her 'perfect' boyfriend had been quite rude to and aloof with her. Not to mention the person who had betrayed her... well how could she sum up that situation? Rachel had been angry at him for using her on behalf of a child that he'd been lied to about fathering. And then that scene in the hallway... It was all so convoluted and Rachel discreetly pinched herself to make sure she wasn't having some weird 'Twilight Zone' dream.

Rachel thoughts drifted to the almost kiss and Quinn's horrible timing. Wait, Rachel thought, why did Quinn ask Finn if he was going to kiss her _again_? Did she know about the two kisses that had already occured?

Unbeknownst to Rachel Mr. Shuester had been observing her the entire class. He had noticed how distracted she appeared, and that whenever she sat in thought for too long a crease would appear on her forehead and she would look close to tears.

"Rachel," he called, and she snapped out of her daze and focused on her teacher.

"Yes, Mr. Shuester?" she answered, hoping he hadn't noticed her lack of participation in her class work.

"Could you come up here please?" he requested and she nodded and popped up, trying to exude an aura of enthusiasm as she always did. But Mr. Shuester gave her a look like he wasn't buying it and her stomach dropped. Was she that obvious? "Rachel, I've been worried about you lately. And then after yesterday in glee... well, it didn't help. And now you seem like you're somewhere else and you look very upset." He spoke lowly but there was no need; his students were taking the opportunity to talk quietly amongst themselves.

"I'm grateful for the concern, Mr. Shue, but I'm actually quite alright. Things have been... rough lately, yes, but they're looking up now. I'm just very worried about a friend."

"Is it someone I know? Is something wrong with a glee member?"

Rachel bit her lip, contemplating talking to Mr. Shuester about everything. She knew he was a mentor to Finn and assumed he knew of Quinn's condition considering he'd suspiciously changed her choreography to something less strenuous. But the idea that Finn had shared it with her and her alone made her feel almost protective over the information.

"No, no, nothing like that Mr. Shue. I shouldn't be letting it distract me, honestly. I have a tendency to be a worry wart. I apologize for slacking off on my class work, and I'd would like to thank you for asking after me. It means a lot." Rachel was once again trying to be cheery, but she meant it when she said it meant a lot to know that Mr. Shuester cared, even a little. Maybe he wasn't out to get her.

Mr. Shuester seemed to accept her answer, but looked like he still had something on his mind.

"I owe you can apology, Rachel. I've been a bit... callous towards you, I think," he said, looking a bit ashamed. Rachel had to stop her mouth from dropping open. "It's just that you come off as so diseffected and put together, and I guess I forget that even though you act tough as nails, you're still a 16 year old girl and," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck before looking at Rachel, "I'm sorry."

Rachel once again felt her tearducts kick in and wondered when she'd become so prone to waterworks in front of witnesses. It was like life as she knew it was changing completely, and while some changes were good Rachel could certainly do without this one.

"I- well- um," Rachel wasn't sure how to respond. 'I forgive you' didn't seem to fit, and 'Thank you' sounded too trite. But Mr. Shuester just patted her shoulder and offered her a small smile, like he understood. He really wasn't such a bad guy, Rachel thought.

"Now please, go try to finish your assignment," he said with a laugh, which succeeded at lightening the mode, or at least cutting off the tears. Rachel nodded quickly and went to her seat, determined to finish her work.

The bell rang and Rachel kept her eyes peeled for Finn but alas, he was nowhere to be found between her Spanish and English class. Hoping that Kurt and Shakespeare's "Julius Caeser" would keep her mind occupied, Rachel sat down in her seat and pulled out her text book.

"Well Ms. Berry, it seems the outfit has survived intact thus far," Kurt said while sweeping through the door. "I even heard a couple of the footballer players talking about your butt." He looked quite satisfied with himself, like he alone was credited with the shape of her ass.

Rachel giggled and nodded, telling him of the few boys she'd actually caught staring.

"I can't tell if I like it or not. It feels refreshing in the moment, but then when I think about it I get a little annoyed," she admitted. "I mean it's nice to know they find me attractive, but it makes me feel kind of shallow."

Kurt shook his head. "Stop overthinking it and enjoy. I only wish I had cute football players discussing my deiriere," he said baldly, and Rachel found herself relaxing and smiling. Before she could really enjoy Kurt's presence their attention was drawn by their teacher as the bell rang.

"What's wrong with you?" Kurt whispered to her ten minutes later. Rachel was spacing out again and didn't hear Kurt at first. "You do know you're on the wrong page, right?" He spoke a bit louder this time but only slightly; Kurt didn't deal well with authority figures as a whole, and their English teacher could make a drill sergeant cry for his momma.

"Oh no," Rachel whispered, peeking over to Kurt's book. "I'm sorry it's just," Rachel wanted to share with Kurt but knew if she didn't tell Mr. Shuester, she most definitely wasn't going to share Finn's business with her fellow diva, "Jesse and I had a strange morning." She wasn't lying, that was something else she was mulling over; it was one thing for him to snap at her upon being jarred from sleep, but he still seemed annoyed with her when he drove her in. It was bothering Rachel the more she thought on it.

"Oh, you must spill in lunch. But right now you need to pay attention before Ms. Henderson notices!" They both grimaced and, now on the correct page, Rachel found the spot they were reading from beforing delving back in to the story. All other issues would have to wait.

* * *

><p>The bell for 6th period rang signaling lunch for the freshman and sophmores, and Quinn was standing at the entrance of the door trying to figure out if she could handle what might be waiting for her inside.<p>

Besides calling Puck to warn him about Finn she hadn't had any contact with either boy since 3rd period. This was their lunch period as well, and knowing they would be in there she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to face them.

What if Finn was sucking off Rachel's face in front of everyone? No one knew that they were broken up yet, what would people say? They would think that he dumped HER for IT!

And then there was Puck, who would probably be cozying up to another Cheerio. The mental image made bile rise in Quinn's throat.

"Don't want to face the music, huh?" Puck was standing behind her, eyes narrowed, and Quinn saw a bruise beginning to form on his lower jaw.

"Did Finn do that?" With worry in her eyes Quinn raised her hand to touch the blemish. But Puck stopped her hand, grabbing it in his.

"Where does this leave us, Quinn?" he asked, his eyes cold. Quinn felt the familiar self loathing encompass her; Finn was right, her lie hadn't only hurt him.

"Well," she whispered, turning her hand to grasp Puck's, "I guess it leaves us to face the music together. That is, if you want to?"

Puck pulled his hand out of the grasp but placed it on her cheek, looking deeply into her eyes with an unreadable expression on his face. "I'm going to be a father to this baby. I'll give you whatever money I can, and I want to go to doctor's appointments." He dropped his hand. "But I don't know what else there is."

Quinn nodded and figured that was the most she could hope for; it would be stupid to expect Puck to just forgive her and jump into her arms. But Quinn could admit she wanted something with him. No, he wasn't the type of guy daddy would approve of but she had always been drawn to him. And when, during her relationship with Finn, she had glimped the real Noah Puckerman she had swooned every time. Following him into the cafeteria she looked around and noticed that neither Finn nor Rachel were in the vicinity.

"I saw them heading towards the front door," Puck said, having noticed her searching eyes. Quinn shook her head.

"I still don't get what he sees in her," she said cattily, even though she had no right to be annoyed by it.

"Get over it, Princess," Puck said unfeelingly before taking a seat. Quinn sat down next to him, ignoring the strange looks and slight buzz of conversation that began from everyone who found it odd that she was sitting with Puck and not Finn. A few of them had probably even spotted the mark on Puck's face, so who knew what kind of conclusions they were drawing.

Telling herself to get used to the stares and whispers, Quinn prepared to eat her lunch. But when she smelled her sandwich, which she had been craving all morning, her stomach revolted at the idea of eating it. Oh, the joys of pregnancy.

* * *

><p>"Finn, where are we going?" Rachel asked for the third time. Finn had accosted her at her locker before lunch and told her she needed to come with him. Taking her right hand in his left (she noticed the knuckles on his right hand were a bit red) he had pulled her out of the front doors and had began practically dragging her towards the football field.<p>

"Finn!" she scolded, finally pulling her hand away. "Where are you taking me? I do not appreciate being manhandled. I understand you're upset but can you just please, use your words."

"Sorry, I'm sorry," he said, looking flustered. "I just needed to get away from there. And I needed you to be with me." He reached for her hand again but didn't grab it, waiting for her to make the move.

Before she could, however, her phone began going off in her pink bag.

"Oh good, my father's had it turned back on," Rachel said smiling, going to reach for bag. When she looked up at Finn she saw him trying to grin back at her, but he wasn't quite succeeding. She stood back up and rested her hand on his bicep, ignoring her father's call. "So tell me where we're going."

"Right behind the football field. People go on the bleachers for lunch but they don't usually go behind the concession stand. I just need to be away from everyone else," Finn repeated and began walking again. When they arrived at the small area behind the concession stand he took off his letterman jacket. "You can sit on this," he said, laying it across the grass.

Rachel thanked him for his chivalry and, with some careful manuevering in her tight skirt, managed to sit down without flashing him her panties.

Finn sat down on the grass next to her then laid back, a big whoosh of air leaving his lungs.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Rachel playing with the strands of grass while Finn seemed to center himself.

"What happened to your hand?" Rachel asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh," Finn glanced at his knuckles, "I uh... sort of punched somebody."

Rachel's eyebrows shot up. "Who?"

"Puck," he forced out, "after I found out he was the one who got Quinn..."

"Oh Finn," Rachel muttered, reaching out to stroke her fingers gently over his knuckles. He turned his hand palm up and interlaced their fingers before bringing up both of their hands to rest on his chest, right over his heart.

"Thanks for being here, Rach," he breathed out before closing his eyes. Rachel contented herself sitting there for the rest of lunch with the gentle thump of Finn's heart under their hands but Finn tugged on her arm, eyes still closed, until it was draped across his stomach. Their clasped hands now in the grass, her chin came to rest in the spot their hands had lain. She looked up at him and he opened his eyes and looked right back.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, Finn," she told him honestly before closing her eyes and turning her head to lay it over his heart.

With the sound of his heartbeat in her ear and the soft rise and fall of his chest under her head... Rachel knew it was probably horrible of her, what with her having a boyfriend and Finn's current state, but she couldn't help but feel blissfully content. Especially when his hand started rubbing slow circles on her lower back. She looked up at him again and he was staring at her, an intense look on his face.

And then he was sitting up and they were kissing, lips pressed together with bruising force. His tongue came out to swipe across her lips, and she responded by parting them. He made a sound in the back of his throat and his hand began sliding down towards her ass. Rachel gasped into Finn's mouth, her hips shifting towards his lap. And then her phone was going off, playing "Hello" by Lionel Richie; Jesse's ringtone.

She pulled back, her cheeks flushed, and turned towards her bag to pull out her phone.

"Wai-" Finn spoke, but Rachel was pressing the 'send' button.

"Hello?" she answered, trying to sound as if she wasn't trying to catch her breath.

"Darling!" Jesse said loudly, and it was apparent Finn heard his voice because his brow furrowed. He made a move to stand up but Rachel grabbed him to hold him still.

"Jesse, this isn't a good time," she said, trying to apologize to Finn with her eyes- not that she was sure what she was apologizing for. Jesse was her boyfriend and as such should be the only one Rachel felt guilt towards. But suddenly she felt as if Finn was the one being wronged in this scenario.

"I thought this was your lunch period?" Jesse enquired, and Rachel's guilt shifted its aim back to him. He had remembered the time of her lunch period from the time they were figuring out how to work around their schedules. He didn't deserve this.

"It is but a friend," Rachel nearly lost it when Finn flinched, "needs me, so I'm going to have to speak to you later," and she hung up without waiting for a response. Finn once again moved to leave and Rachel tugged him again, cursing herself for even answering.

"I shouldn't have done that," he said, staring at the place where her fingers encircled his arm. "You have a boyfriend."

"But I," Rachel stopped, not sure where she was going with that. She was utterly baffled at what she was supposed to do or say, and Finn's face went from hopeful to forlorn when she didn't finish her sentence.

"I'll see you later, Rach," Finn said before slipping from Rachel's loosened grasp, standing up, and walking back to the school.

It wasn't until he turned the corner that Rachel slid to her knees and realized he had left his jacket behind.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note2: I know it's a crap place to end, but the next part wasn't developing as I'd hoped so I decided to save it for the next chapter. I know exactly where I want it to go and fear not, it is not the realm of angst! I will, in all likelihood, have the next chapter up tomorrow.<em>

_I hope you like where this is going! :)_

_Until next time,_

_Maggie xo._


	7. Great Romances of the 20th Century

_Author's Note: Alright, I won't say this is going to be the final chapter because this story leaves things kind of open, but this is most definitely the climax. As Rated M, baby! :) I hope that it doesn't seem totally out of nowhere/OOC, but to me it's like dropping a Mentos into a soda bottle; the longer you keep it capped, the bigger the explosion when you release it. So yeah, serious smut warning._

_Reviews would be lovely and let me know how you think I handled the whole situation._

_Disclaimer: Ryan Murphy owns Glee. I own... nothing legally, actually. Haha. So please do not sue, as no copyright infringement is intended._

* * *

><p>Finn had sped up his pace after turning the corner of the concession stand, rushing back to the boy's locker room. He would end his lunch hour in the weight room, he decided. He felt like if he didn't release some steam he would legit have a break down.<p>

Figuring it wouldn't be a good idea to bench lift without a spotter Finn walked over to the punching bag. He warmed up slowly, barely even noticing the stinging from his right knuckle. He knew he was only making it worse but he didn't care.

How had everything changed so quickly, he wondered. Two days ago he was a father to be; a boyfriend; a best friend. And now he was none of those things... now he had undefined and overdeveloped feelings for a girl who he had not only mistreated but whom had a boyfriend. And not three hours after ending things with Quinn he was sticking his tongue into Rachel's perfect, sweet tasting-

Shit. Finn knew he was in trouble. The kiss had ended so abruptly, and because of a phone call from her boyfriend, so Finn had focused only on getting away before he started begging Rachel... for what he wasn't sure.

But that kiss had done something to him, and now that he was ruminating on the memory his lips seemed to tingle and that familiar feeling in his lower stomach started. Trying to stop that train of thought since he really didn't want to start thinking with his dick (it would be too easy) Finn tried to get his mind back on track and figure out what the hell to do now.

* * *

><p>Rachel had contemplated going back to lunch but decided it was time to do some serious thinking. After carefully hanging Finn's jacket in her locker (and taking a second, just a second, to pretend it was there for totally different reasons; ie. her quarterback boyfriend had insisted she wear it around...) Rachel shook off the thought and headed to her Safe Place, as she was beginning to think of it.<p>

Once she was sitting in her spot backstage Rachel realized she already knew what she was going to do. She couldn't possibly continue a relationship with Jesse; not because she had any serious hope of a chance with Finn, but because she had been able to cheat on him. And it wasn't just a momentary lapse of judgement type of thing. She'd been so lost in the moment with Finn, the promixity of him and his scent and then his LIPS... Rachel's hand automatically went up to her mouth... the POINT was Jesse hadn't even crossed her mind, laying in the grass with Finn. No, she wasn't breaking up with Jesse **for** Finn, not really. But she was breaking up with Jesse because of her **feelings** for Finn. They may never actually become anything but she somehow knew her feelings for Jesse would never measure up.

And what was worse; the only guilt Rachel felt was that over letting Finn walk away, of even answering the phone in the first place. Finn had been the first person from New Directions to actually be friendly towards her from the very beginning. Even if they were in a strange place recently she'd been who he sought out when the truth about Quinn came to light. And even if Rachel wished they could someday become more than friends she knew that right here and now Finn would most likely be on the rebound, not to mention nursing his wounds from the serious duplicity he had been subjected to.

Rachel thanked Jehovah that her phone went off in that moment because she was leading herself down a twisted path she wasn't sure she'd return from. She opened her phone to a message from Kurt.

_Where are you?_

Kurt had wanted details on her unpleasant morning with Jesse and Rachel had been looking forward to talking to Kurt about it and hearing his opinion. Now she needed his advice even more but lunch period was about to end. She texted him a reply, carefully leaving out any details about Finn.

_I am sitting backstage in the auditorium. The last couple of days have been pretty intense, I knew I told you I would tell you about my morning but I needed a break. Wasn't sure if I could handle any more stares._

And it wasn't even for the mere fact that they were making her feel like a piece of meat on display. The same boys were were heckling her yesterday were drooling in her direction and it was all Rachel could do to stop herself from calling them out. Rachel was playing out a wonderful scene in her mind in which she gave all those jocks a piece of her mind when a voice interuppted her.

"Lunch ends in about 5 minutes, but I figure that's long enough for you to tell me what's actually bothering you. Mercedes here would like to know as well," Kurt's voice came from stage left and Rachel saw he and Mercedes standing there, both of them with their hands on their hips and expectant expressions on their faces.

"I-" Rachel knew she was a wonderful actress, yes, but she hated the idea of putting on a facade with Kurt and Mercedes. "You need to promise me, promise, that if I tell you it doesn't leave the three of us. It's not really my business except that someone else's business is now affecting me by way of their actions towards me," she spewed out the words, not even sure if they were coherent. Her hands were kind of shaking because she was going to tell them and she was so afraid that if they told someone Finn would never forgive her.

"Wha-" Kurt started, but Rachel knew if he said anything sarcastic she might cloister up.

"Quinn lied to Finn about being the father of the baby and he reached out to me for support and today, outside, during lunch, he kissed me. And I kissed him back. We kissed." She took in their reactions; Mercedes with her hand covering her mouth while Kurt's eyes had seemed to get bigger every time Rachel said 'kissed'.

"What about Jesse?" Kurt asked, trying to ignore the slight jealousy he felt and the catty thoughts towards Rachel that sprang to mind. He'd nearly banished them completely but Finn was his dream boy. Although his perception of him had changed lately, he still hadn't completely let go of the crush.

"Who's the father?" Mercedes questioned before Rachel could answer Kurt, and recieved a look from Rachel like she was worried Mercedes was latching on to a juicy piece of gossip. "Is it Puck?" Rachel's look of surprise was confirmation enough. "Look girl, I'm a people watcher. I've seen you and Finn eyeing each other for like, EVER, and I've seen Quinn ignoring these really weird looks from Puck. I just thought..." Mercedes shrugged, like she wasn't even sure what she'd thought of it. "Plus he was the one that spelled it out for us that Quinn was pregnant, and he seemed kind of annoyed at the whole thing," she remembered.

"Poor Finn," Kurt spoke, almost to himself, a far away look in his eyes. Then he fixed his gaze on Rachel as the bell rang. "Walk with me," he said, looping his arm with hers while Mercedes took Rachel's other side.

"Tell me what you're thinking," Kurt requested, and Rachel was trying to take all of it in. She still hadn't answered either of their questions, although Mercedes' didn't seem to warrant a response.

"Well," Rachel breathed, smiling a little at being sandwiched between the two and wondering again at the many changes occuring in her life, "I've decided to end things with Jesse." She announced. Both of her friends stopped in their tracks. "It's not for Finn!" she said quickly.

"Oh hell no, Rachel," Mercedes spoke. "Didn't Finn already mess you around? Do you really trust that this isn't some rebound thing?" Mercedes spoke like she was trying not to be condecending, totally ignoring Rachel's last comment.

"It's not like that Mercedes, I swear," Rachel spoke confidently. "But I can't date Jesse knowing that I feel so strongly for someone else. I can't let him try to win my heart when it's already occupied. It isn't fair to him at all, especially now."

"Are you going to tell him about the kiss?" Kurt asked, still trying to come to terms with the fact that this Rachel and Finn thing was probably going to get serious. It seemed sort of inevitable.

"Actually," Rachel looked down at the floor, "I plan on texting him, probably say something simple and sweet."

The pair standing before her looked flabbergasted.

"Oh don't look so shocked. It is 2009 and this is the age of technology. We are not engaged, we've only been 'official' since yesterday. This isn't out of the realm of acceptable behavior."

Kurt was shaking his head, muttering to himself, and Mercedes was fighting back giggling. Being friends with Rachel was entertaining, that was for sure.

"And just what are you going to say to him in a text message to let him know that your budding relationship is crushed into smithereens?" Kurt asked, and Rachel wondered why he seemed so annoyed. And people called her dramatic?

"Um, well at first I was mentally composing this long detailed text, but I've decided upon a simple, 'I don't think we should see each other any longer. Be well, Rachel.'" She looked at them triumphantly, as if daring them to refute any points she made in why this was a perfectly logical idea. When they were silent Rachel reached for her phone and typed out that exact message before shutting it off, smiling widely. Without the weight of Jesse on her conscious she could face the situation with Finn head on, wherever it might go.

Kurt was about to launch into the repercussions Rachel might have to deal with if she didn't explain things to Jesse, especially if he genuinely liked her (Men and their egos, he thought) but the late bell was ringing and they all looked at each other in alarm and dashed off in different directions.

As Rachel was being reprimanded by her Creative Writing teacher she slunk into her seat, waiting with bated breath for her free period and then AP English. It had taking a lot of convincing, both her parents and Mr. Figgins, but Rachel was taking the class plus her regular English because it was effectively a Juniors-only class. But being Rachel Berry meant being prepared to the fullest. If she didn't get into Julliard she was banking on NYU. The theater department was fantastic and while she majored in that, she could minor in English. Maybe even pull off a double major if she wasn't consumed in parts. Of course if things took off right away in the acting department it would remain a minor and she could use the degree when she retired from show business.

Glancing at the clock and noticing that she had been two minutes late, Rachel decided that she was done allowing the dramas of life to inhibit her usual dedication to everything she did. There was no excuse for neglecting school work, and absolutely abhorrent that she'd been late to TWO classes in ONE day. She had texted Jesse and could figured out how she wanted to approach Finn when she finished her paper next period. But now was a picture prompt writing assignment, and Rachel allowed herself to create a mini-world around a photograph of an underwater kingdom where a mermaid was smiling, watching an egg crack.

When she was done her story was about new beginnings. The mermaid was a princess who was waiting for her true love to emerge from the shell in which he'd been imprison by the Sea Witch, so engraged was she that the prince didn't want to be her mate. When Rachel was finished she knew the story was just the catalyst she needed and she felt ready to deal with what may come.

* * *

><p>Finn sat in the choir room pouting. He'd waited right until the late bell for her but Rachel didn't show up to her 7th period class. He knew she had Creative Writing then but when she didn't show up he felt even more depressed. Finn knew Rachel was always early to class, unless she was slushied. Then she was like some sort of Superman person because she was in and out, completely cleaned off (unless it got her hair, in which case she would go to the teacher, let them take one look at her, and get handed a pass to the locker room to shower) in like, a minute and a half flat, and since he hadn't seen her covered in the stuff she had to have ditched class. Probably went home, since Rachel always did everything full force. And it was all his fault.<p>

Good job, asshole, he thought to himself. Finn knew it was probably really stupid of him to kiss Rachel, and not just because she had a boyfriend. He knew she thought he was in some really bad place, and he was... but his feelings for her didn't just appear because of that. Finn felt like she HAD to know, HAD to see, but then he reminded himself that yeah, she had seen something. At the bowling alley, in the auditorium. But Finn had run out after that first kiss, asking her not to tell anyone, and after the bowling alley she probably thought everything they shared that day was just him pretending so he could get her back into the club. Finn felt like punching himself, or even better, getting one of her father's to punch him.

He ignored Mr. Shuester's eyes on him and stared at the paper in front of him which was folded in half and sort of crumpled a bit. Finn didn't want to open it; didn't want to read the things he'd written about how Rachel was what he loved about glee. And about school. And about his life, when she was in it. He blew out a breath and told himself to stop being such a fucking girl. It was time to bite the bullet and just tell Rachel how he felt. 'Use words', she'd asked of him. But Finn was no good with words, that much everybody knew. What he was good at was spewing verbal diahhrea that NEVER checked with his brain before leaving his mouth.

"Finn," Mr. Shuester popped Finn's mental image of word vomit (it looked kind of like alphabet soup but the letters were multicolored like the alphabet was in pre-school, and they were strung together to make words with silly string) "you are aware that I expect you to hand in the 1,000 word essay by the end of the period."

Finn's nodded furiously, ignoring the confused looks he saw in his peripherals that Mike and Matt sent him. He didn't turn his head because then he would see Puck, who was sitting in the back on the opposite side of the room, right behind Matt who almost concealed him unless he ducked.

Finn decided to just ramble in the paper (how was he supposed to know how many words was 1,000 words? was he supposed to count them?) until it took up two sides. Figuring that would have to be good enough, he stood up and gave it to Mr. Shuester who was looking at Finn with a worried expression.

"You alright, Finn?" Mr. Shuester asked.

Finn shrugged and sat back down, and to his surprise and relief Mr. Shuester didn't press the subject.

By the time 7th period was over Finn knew what he had to do; he had to convince Rachel that his feelings were real, even if she had that stupid boyfriend. Revving himself up to go to her house he hadn't even noticed the bell ring, let alone his teammates leaving. When he finally felt ready he stood up and headed out of the room. Almost out of the door his mouth dropped open when he saw Rachel walking briskly towards the choir room.

His feet carried him until he was standing right in front of her.

"I thought you left," he said before he could help himself, and then pressed his lips together. He was hoping he wouldn't scare her off or make her mad. It was going to be hard to keep track of his words, though, when he couldn't stop looking at her lips. Damn hormones.

"Why would you think that?" she wondered, looking confused.

"I was sort of standing by the door of your 7th period class," he admitted, trying to control his blush, but the heat rose in his cheeks anyway. He was so pathetic. "You're never late to class, even if you get slushied you get there on time. So I figured you were, ya know, upset and went home," he was mumbling in the end, realizing what an idiot he probably sounded like. Why would she be that upset, right? She has this wonderful boyfriend making her all happy, no way a kiss from some douche bag who'd hurt her time and again was going to effect her life that much.

"Actually Finn, I was planning on talking to you about that," Rachel said, and Finn really wished he was better at reading the less obvious things in a person's expressions. What was that glint in Rachel's eye?

"Let's go to your house," Finn said, grabbing her hand like he had earlier to head towards the door.

"What? No, Finn, I need to go to the choir room to work on the paper for glee!" Rachel protested verbally, but didn't try to pull away. If anything she positioned her hand more comfortably in his.

"I already thought you left, and you were already late to a class-"

"Two actually," she reminded him, and Finn ignored his annoyance at himself for screwing up her day and decided he could use that to his advantage.

"See, your perfect record is already shot. Might as well go for broke," they were at her locker now, and Rachel just looked at him with that weird glint in her eye again before shrugging her shoulders.

"I guess I am missing out on the common teenage experiences of truancy," she said, and even though Finn wasn't totally sure what she meant he saw her gathering her belongings and handing him his jacket, so he figured it meant she agreed to ditching.

"Did you drive to school?" he asked when she closed her door, kind of hoping she had even if it meant taking seperate cars.

"No, I um, got a ride in," Rachel said, biting her lip, and Finn was unpleasantly reminded of her boyfriend. "But this works out well, as I was in need of a ride home today anyway," Rachel said, and Finn stopped thinking about Mr. Vocal Adreneline and grabbed her hand again. She gave him a small smile and didn't pull back, but allowed him to lead her out of the side door and to his parking spot.

They were quiet as they headed to his car but it was a pleasant kind of silence and Finn was starting to relax when they were climbing in. He turned on his ignition and the calm was broken the blasting of his radio, loud angry music with a LOT of cursing filling the air. Fumbling with the buttons, he looked over at Rachel expecting her to be shocked and appalled but she was laughing, almost hysterically. Finn found himself joining in and they just looked at each other until they were only softling chuckling.

Finn snapped his attention back to getting them to... where were they going?

"Uh Rach, my mom's home and probably won't be very happy if she finds out I cut school."

She nodded understandingly. "My Dad went to Portland last night for a workshop, and Daddy's working on this big case that's kept him late every night this week. We could go to my house so our parents will be none the wiser."

Finn smiled to himself while putting the car in reverse, accepting how pathetic he was over Rachel. Just the way she spoke, ESPECIALLY if he didn't understand, made him want to pull her close and hold her like he'd never let her go.

Unable to resist he glanced at Rachel and she was worrying her lip. Scared that she might be regretting... whatever it was they were doing, Finn reached out his hand but stopped at the last second, not sure if she would accept holding his hand again if she was questioning everything.

When she noticed his hand hovering over hers she looked up at him and smiled softly before fitting her fingers between his. Finn had no idea what any of it meant, but in this moment he knew how he felt about Rachel; he was freaking falling in love with her. Like, **whoa**. He'd known he'd felt something really heavy towards her but LOVE? His palms started to sweat and he got worried that Rachel would notice but she was happily singing along to a song he vaguely recognized on the radio.

"I'm really glad you came back to glee," he found himself saying, and Rachel whispered a 'Me too' before going back to singing softly, a smile lingering on her beautiful mouth.

When Finn was stopped at a red light Rachel was looking out the window, and Finn was looking at Rachel. Like, really letting himself look. Was she trying to kill him with that shirt, he wondered, she's so short and he's so tall so the view is SPECTACULAR and those legs in that skirt...

"Finn the light is green," Rachel's voice called his attention up to her face and Finn saw her blushing. He ducked his head and glued his eyes back on the road, feeling sort of ashamed of himself that he'd be so obviously checking her out. But she didn't seem mad. Out of the corner of his eye he saw she was still red, but that small smile was still there and Finn found a smirk creep onto his own lips.

"We're here," Rachel said a little breathlessly, popping out of the car and Finn could swear he heard her take a big, deep breath. He wondered if she was feeling the same tension he was- when he once again remembered that she was probably just trying to not freak out on Finn for acting like this while she had a boyfriend.

"Finn?" Rachel called, and motioned for him to follow her with a raised eyebrow. He got out of the car and followed her to her front door.

"So what do you want to do?" he asked dumbly, suddenly feeling less determined and more scared shitless at the idea of telling Rachel how he felt about her.

"I already told you, Finn," she said as they stepped in, closing the door behind her and leading him into the sitting room. "I want to talk about what happened during lunch," Rachel sounded very sure of herself and it made Finn even more nervous. He was pretty sure she was about to tell him it was out of line for him to kiss her and that while she'd be there as his friend she really didn't want anything more. And Finn was fighting back all the thoughts of how he didn't deserve her anyway so what had he been thinking, hoping she'd fall into his arms after a declaration of love.

"I'm-" Finn began, but the doorbell rang, causing both of them to shoot each other scared looks. Had they been caught?

"Rachel I saw you go in, with some guy no less. So answer the door, because I deserve some answers and I am not leaving your front stoop until I get them!" Jesse's voice came through the front door, and Rachel looked all sorts of embarassed. This guy sounded like almost a big a drama queen as Rachel or Kurt, and Finn found himself wondering what sort of answers the jerk thought he deserved. Rachel shouldn't have to answer to anyone, especially a snot nosed spoiled brat from Carmel.

Rachel rushed towards the front door looking kind of ticked off, and Finn almost felt bad for the guy. An angry Rachel was sort of terrifying.

Swinging the door open, Rachel didn't even speak but merely gestured for Jesse to come in, much to Finn's annoyance. The two boys faced off for a moment before, Finn rising slowly from the couch and trying to look menacing.

"Who's this?" he asked sharply, and Finn had to literally bite his tongue to stop from telling this fucker to stop talking to Rachel like that.

"That's my friend, Finn. He's in glee with me, and if you don't mind we were actually about to discuss something important so I would like you to leave." Rachel was tapping her foot and wringing her hands together, looking torn between impatience and what looked almost like guilt. Oddly enough though, that emotion only played out on her face when she looked at Finn. Shouldn't she feel bad that she was pretty much throwing her boyfriend out to hang with another guy?

"This was all a big waste of time my, wasn't it? I mean seriously Rachel, I've only been around you two for all of thirty seconds and I can already see that Finn here is in love with you!"

The room went silent and Finn eyes were saucers. "It doesn't matter," he found himself saying, his eyes going to the floor to avoid Rachel's shocked expression, "because she's your girlfriend."

And then Jesse was scoffing and heading towards the door.

"She didn't tell you?" he hissed out bitterly, "She broke up with me earlier. I assume you were the friend she was helping during lunch?" When neither of them answered, Jesse nodded his head. "I can put two and two together, you know. You think if I can tell you like her I can't tell she feels the same?" Jesse shrugged his shoulders. "I hope you two are happy together." And then he was walking at the door and Finn looked at Rachel, waiting for her to follow after her (ex?) boyfriend.

But she was just staring at Finn with a strange look on her face, like she was waiting for him to confirm what Jesse had said, like Finn really was as stupid as he always said if he couldn't see what Jesse saw.

"Finn?" she whispered softly, but Finn looked away again. He didn't want to be the reason she broke up with her boyfriend, even while he DID want to be the reason she broke up with her boyfriend.

"You should go after him," Finn said, looking almost as shocked as Rachel when the words left his mouth. But then Rachel's shock turned to anger and she stormed towards Finn, shoving him in the chest roughly.

"Why are you being such a coward?" she yelled, and Finn was too stunned to reply. "Why can't you just for once, admit to how you're really feeling? Why did you kiss me today? Holding my hand, wanting to lay with me, that could be excused away as needing comfort from a friend in a difficult time. But you kissed me! And I don't want to be a rebound but I do want **you** and-" Her voice seemed to break, and with it something inside of Finn snapped.

He backed Rachel towards the wall, reaching up his hand to wipe away the tear that had escaped.

Then he was kissing her again, much like he had earlier, trying to put all of his feelings into the kiss. She pulled away and looked upset, so Finn figured he needed to talk fast so he could get back to the kissing.

"I **am** a coward Rach, I know. But Jesse was right. I, I really think- I'm- I don't know a lot of things for sure, especially right now, but I do know that what I feel for you is stronger than any fear I have that you might not feel the same. But I couldn't just tell you that I love you while you had a boyfriend!" Finn defended himself.

"You love me?" Rachel asked wide eyed.

* * *

><p>Rachel couldn't believe it. He'd said he loves her. He LOVES her. But it all seemed to sudden, even if it was everything she'd dreamed of since their first duet. How could she know this wasn't brought on by the emotional upheaval he was dealing with? How could she trust it?<p>

Finn could tell Rachel was still unsure of his sincerity, so he employed both his words and actions, hoping she would see just how much he meant it. Pressing her against the wall, he wrapped his hands around her thighs and lifted her up. Her skirt, however, was so tight that it rode up completely when her legs opened, affording Finn a full view of her panties.

Rachel gasped but Finn didn't give her a chance to do anything, merely pressing himself against her tighter and melding theirs mouths together. Rachel had to stifle a moan as he ground against her, and she hoped she didn't become too excited. These panties definitely wouldn't hide her arousal, especially with the way she was exposed.

"Rach," Finn whispered, hoping he could get the words right and letting her response to his actions so far egg him on, "I've wanted to be with you for so long," he whispered against her neck, kissing a path from her collar bone to the dip of her cleavage, getting more and more turned on. "I'm so sorry," he brought his head back up, kissing her lips, then her nose and forehead, all the while rocking against her center and trying to maintain control. "Never wanna hurt you again," he choked out, fighting back a moan.

"Finn," she whimpered, and Rachel felt Finn jerk against her. "Oh my," Rachel's head rolled back and hit the wall when his bulge pressed right against her clit. She felt like she was rapidly losing control and, probably despite her better judgement, was allowing herself to go with the flow. This is what she'd always wanted, after all. And if he didn't mean it, this, then she would deal with that later. Until then she'd take whatever it was he wanted to give because it felt so right and Rachel could only pray that he felt it too. Rachel pulled Finn's head back by his hair, forcing him to look her in the eye.

Finn came then, eyes locked on Rachel's, the sight of her swollen lips and feel of her against him all too much. The tug of his hair had sent sparks straight to his cock and he choked out her name as he exploded. His eyes had drifted shut and he felt the humiliation rise. What would she think of him now? When he opened his eyes Rachel merely raised an eyebrow at him, face flushed, before diving right back in to the kiss. Finn backed them away from the wall and sat them on the couch, his hands moving to Rachel's ass and his cock was already springing back to life as he felt the round globes under his hands. "You're so sexy Rach. So fucking hot," he rasped out, sucking lightly on the spot on her neck that had caused goosebumps to spring up on her arms. "God, you're so **beautiful**. I want you be mine." Pulling his face away from the dip in her shirt again, Finn pulling the scarf out from under her collar and bringing it up over her head. He reached for her buttons after dropping the scarf on her lap, but Rachel stopped him.

"We should go upstairs," she told him, trying to shove away the butterflies that were flapping wildly in her stomach. Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to give herself to Finn?

"Wait," Finn said, and Rachel's stomach clenched. Was he already changing his mind? She was about to get out of lap when he finished his thought, "I know we got kind of carried away but I don't wanna make you feel like you have to, you know, do anything you don't wanna do," Finn spoke earnestly, his hand coming up to cup her cheek, thumb rubbing her bottom lip. Rachel wrapped his hand in both of hers before bringing it to her lips and kissing it gently.

"Remember what I said in celibacy club? That girls want it just as much as boys?" She brought his hand down to her breast, and he gasped and bucked his hips in response. Rachel fought off the urge to giggle, worried if she broke the straight faced demeanor the nerves would rush back. "I want to trust you with me body, with my heart," she whispered, and let go of his hand when he started caressing her. "I want to be yours."

Finn's control was left behind at those words. He once again lifted Rachel up, one hand under her ass, the other still caressing her boob. Her ass and boob! And she said she wanted to be his! "You're so amazing," he said, but it was sort of muffled against her lips so he wasn't sure she heard it. They crashed through the door of her room, trying their damndest to breathe steadily through their noses. By that time Finn had unbutton her first two buttons (one handed, who's the man!) and was now playing with her nipple over her sexy lacy bra that seemed to match her panties. Finn's cock was throbbing again and he really hoped that they were going to go all the way. And not just so he could bury himself in a tight, warm place for release; he wanted to be Rachel's first, wanted her to be his first. He **needed** them to be together in every way possible.

Finn laid her down on the bed and seemed to grow impatient with the clothes they were both wearing, because he had pulled his hands off of Rachel's body to rip off his own shirt, and in turn Rachel finished unbottoning her shirt, reaching for the zipper so she could pull it out of the skirt. It was all sorts of difficult to manage with shaking fingers.

"Let me," Finn's voice was deeper than he'd ever heard it, and it was like his body was moving out on instinct; he unzipped Rachel's skirt and untucked her shirt but instead of just pulling the shirt off, he slipped her sleeves slowly down her arms and then continued pulling it down her body until he was tugging on her skirt and belt, slipping the materials down her amazingly long legs. How- she was so short- Finn was about to start thanking all higher powers that he was able to experience this when his mind short circuited; Rachel had latched her mouth onto his nipple while at the same time cupping him through his boxers. He hissed and eased her hand away and Rachel looked up at him. "I uh, I don't want to-" he couldn't finish the sentence, but figured if he was about to do sexy things, he should be able to discuss sexy things. "I don't want to come before I'm inside of you," he rushed out, hoping it sounded much sexier to her than it sounded to him.

But it seemed to do the job because her pupils dilated and suddenly Finn couldn't contain himself anymore and he reached for her panties, running his fingers along the damp material. They both moaned when he did it and Finn looked at her for permission before pulling them down her legs as well. She nodded and Finn had to think of the mailman when he got his first glimpse of her bare pussy.

"I'm gonna touch you now," left his mouth, but he didn't wait for any sort of response before running his finger along her slit, dick twitching when he found the copious amounts of moisture. He slipped a finger inside of her, this time looking up to try and read her reactions, wanting to make this as good for her as he could. "Does it feel good, baby?" he asked, not even noticing the term of endearment. It had just felt natural.

"Yeah," Rachel moaned out as he inserted another fingers, pumping them faster and scissoring a bit.

"You're so tight, Rach," he said, and Rachel only nodded absentmindedly. He had curled his fingers and there was a tingling beginning to shoot from her lower belly to her toes whenever he touched a certain spot.

"Finn, please," she whispered, not able to finish the sentence but hoping that he understood; she needed more.

What she did not expect was for him to suddenly plunge his head down, bring her left leg over his shoulder, and latch his mouth onto her clit, sucking gently. He flicked it with his tongue, now pumping three fingers into her, and suddenly Rachel saw bright white behind her lids, back bowing as she came.

He pulled his head back a bit, feelings her leg still shaking on his shoulder, just barely holding out control of his own orgasm with images of Sue Sylvester bathing in the blood of the mailman. He withdrew his fingers and, when Rachel opened her eyes, made sure she saw him licking them clean.

"Mm," he moaned out, lost in his lust. His cock was so hard and Rachel looked so gorgeous right now. Her bra the only thing on her body covering her heaving chest, legs sprawled open and thighs glistening a bit. Finn started kissing her again, long languid kisses, before pulling back. "Everything about you tastes so sweet, Rachel," he whispered, and for the first time he was able to witness just how far the blush could reach oh her body.

Rachel sat up a bit, taking off her bra and reaching for Finn's boxers. When she saw his cock spring free her mouth dropped a bit. "It's so big," she squeeked out. When she saw Finn's smug face she smacked his arm and then boldly reached for it. The look of self satisfaction was replaced with a look of pinched concentration.

"Rachel, please," he said, once again reaching for her hand. "That feels really good. Too good." He emphasized.

This time Rachel was the one to wear the smug expression, and she knew it was now or never.

"There are condoms in the top drawer of my bedside table," she told him, but instead of instantly reaching for one Finn looked at her sharply.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well my, my father's decided that I should be prepared when I started expressing a serious interest in boys," Rachel told him, hoping he didn't know the reason for the purchase was due to Rachel's constant raving about him.

"Oh," he said, looking slightly placated. "Alright, I'll get one," he said, reaching for one with shaky hands. He tried and failed to open in, and Rachel looked at him curiously. He finally succeeded and slipped it on, hoping it was on right. One baby drama was enough for his high school years.

"Finn, you're shaking," Rachel whispered.

"I don't want to hurt you," he whispered back, and positioned himself between her legs before pressing his lips to hers.

He pushed in slowly and steadily, distracted from his own pleasure by the gasp of pain he haerd, and the tears slowly forming in Rachel's eyes.

"Sorry, so sorry, I'm sorry," he whispered repeatedly between kisses.

"It'll help if you move, I think," she spoke a bit harshly, but Finn knew it could be really painful for girls their first time. And yeah, he was sort of well endowed and Rachel was freaking tiny, and so tight, and oh god she felt so good around him. Moving his hips slowly at first, Finn reached up a hand and started playing with Rachel's nipple again, kissing the spot on her neck that had her purring earlier. When she let out a long, low moan after he shifted his hips he knew he was on the right track. Moving the hand from her nipple to her clit Finn started rubbing his thumb in slow circles around it and tried to find the spot inside of her that she had liked.

"Finn, oh there, right there," she breathed out, meeting his thrusts now and pulling her head back to stare at him, eyes glazed over and kiss-swollen lips parted.

Finn increased the pressure of his thumb and started pressing it directly against her clit, increased his thrusts, hoping she came soon because he was so close to exploding.

"Finn!" Rachel gasped, and then a sound from low in her throat was escaping and the pleasure swept over her entire body even more powerfully than before.

Finn felt her tighten around him and that was it, he was coming harder than he thought possible. Grinding softly against her in the aftershocks, Finn was reluctant to pull out of her. Hopeful that he'd soon find himself in the heaven that is Rachel's body again soon, pulled out and slipped off the condom, typing it up clumsily before dropping it onto his jeans, not even caring if it was totally gross. He then rolled over onto his back, pulling Rachel with him.

"How do you feel?" Finn asked her, rubbing slow circles on her back like he had earlier that day. Wow, he thought, it had only been earlier that day. He hoped that after how crazy things had been lately they would finally slow down for a little bit.

"A little sore, like I pushed myself too hard in a workout," Rachel answered before turning her head and kissing his chest, right over his heart. "But also completely wonderful because I just made love for the first time and it was..." Rachel felt tears springing to her eyes, "it was more than I'd ever dreamed."

"Hey," Finn whispered, hoping that the tears were happy tears. "I know things have been sort of crazy lately but what just happened," Finn stopped, trying to figure out just what he wanted to say. "I know people think it's crazy to think you find your soul mate, especially in high school. But I feel all sort of things about you that I've never felt about anyone or anything before and that means something. And I promise you're not a rebound, and if you let me be your boyfriend I'll spend every day proving that I know just how lucky I am to have you-"

"I love you," Rachel spoke through his words, "and I don't care if people will think if I'm too young to know that that's really true. I just care that you're the first person who seemed to see me for who I was, and it helped ME to see who I was, and who I wanted to be." Rachel had so much more she wanted to say but figured they'd have plenty of time to say the rest at a future date. "But right now I'm mostly exhausted and, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to take a little nap before we watch that movie." Finn nodded in agreement, and Rachel felt the movement of his chest beneath her nipples. She was reminded that she was lying in bed with Finn in the nude after having had sex with him. She caught Finn looking at her like he knew what she was thinking and she stuck out her tongue. He only wiggled his eyebrows lewly and she laughed out loud, settling herself comfortable. "My dad won't be home until about 10 o'clock, so you can set an alarm on your phone for, say, 6 ish?"

"Setting the alarm on my phone would require me moving, babe," he pointed out, and Rachel huffed a bit at the realization.

"Well then we'll just have to hope for the best because I've just settled in and I'm far too comfortable."

Finn chuckled and kissed the top of her head, wondering at how naturally this whole situation felt.

"Sounds good to me," he said before yawning, tightening his hold on Rachel and drifting off.

* * *

><p>Author's Note2: There will at least be an epilogue, I've decided. I need to resolve quite a few elements of the story and I wouldn't mind writing a happy couple dynamic after all of this.<p>

Any ideas for what you'd like to see in any following chapters/epilogue?

Until next time,

Maggie xo.


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